John Hancock Investment Management Launches Mortgage-Backed Securities ETF

John Hancock Investment Management LLC has announced the availability of its new John Hancock Mortgage-Backed Securities ETF JHMB.

What Happened: According to the Boston-headquartered company, the new exchange-traded fund will invest at least 80% of its net assets in mortgage-backed securities that are either issued or guaranteed by federal entities or privately issued securities.

These investments can cover both residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities plus to-be-announced mortgage contracts.

The securities may be rated investment grade or below, the company added. The ETF will be subadvised by Manulife Investment Management (US) LLC, John Hancock Investment Management's affiliated asset manager.

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Why It Happened: This is the second actively managed fixed-income ETF launched by John Hancock Investment Management this year – in March, the company premiered the John Hancock Corporate Bond ETF JHCB.

"According to SIFMA, the market for mortgage-backed and other asset-backed securities is large and in demand, and represents over $12 trillion of the bond market today, which is larger than the investment-grade and high-yield corporate bond markets combined," said Steven L. Deroian, co-head of retail product at John Hancock Investment Management. "We're excited to bring this new ETF to market in a growing category for asset allocators and advisors."

Photo: Sergei Tokmakov/Pixabay.