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Why Invest With VanEck?

Fixed income ETFs have become important investment tools for insurance companies. Common use cases include accessing certain complex asset classes such as CLOs or emerging markets (EM) debt, allocating to overlooked market segments such as fallen angel high yield bonds, or protecting against rising rates with investment grade floating rate bonds. Fixed Income ETFs also provide diversification into smaller accounts, enable building a liquidity sleeve around a core bond portfolio, and act as a tool for making tactical portfolio allocation changes. The many benefits of fixed income ETFs include low cost, liquidity, diversification, monthly income payments and bond-like accounting treatment for ETFs with NAIC ratings.

VanEck NAIC-Designated Bond ETFs

In addition to the liquidity, transparency and efficiency that fixed income ETFs can provide, NAIC-designated bond ETFs offer additional benefits to insurance companies. They can be classified as a "long-term bond issuer obligation" on Schedule D, which allows more favorable risk-based capital treatment with the added ability to adopt "systematic value" accounting, mitigating potential balance sheet volatility.

Picture of Phil Kirouac

Phil Kirouac — Director, Institutional Business Development, Insurance Channel

Phil brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the needs of U.S. insurance companies. His responsibilities cover institutional business development and client relations across general account and annuity investment platforms.

212.293.2028 | 646.906.1226

Featured ETFs

Benefits of Fixed Income ETFs
VanEck offers innovative fixed income ETFs that insurance companies can use rather than owning individual bonds. ETFs offer several benefits including broad diversification, transparency and the ability to buy and sell shares on an exchange.
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Hear from our Experts

Income Investing Blog

Why We Like CLOs Amid a Fed Pause
William Sokol Director of Product Management

May 03, 2023

Yields and spreads on CLO debt remain extremely attractive, and a new rate environment could actually bring additional return potential and the opportunity for above-coupon returns.

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Income Investing Blog

Income Investing Playbook 2023: It’s Time to Invest in Bonds

April 26, 2023

Income Investing Blog

Safe and Smart Playbook Helps CLOI Outperform in Q1

April 25, 2023

Portfolio positioning and security selection were key performance drivers for the VanEck CLO ETF in Q1 as the Fund outperformed the J.P. Morgan CLO Index.

Income Investing Blog

Fallen Angel Bonds: Higher Quality High Yield
William Sokol Director of Product Management

March 21, 2023

Fallen angel high yield bonds provide a distinct value proposition that sets them apart from the broad high yield market.

Income Investing Blog

The Power of CLOs: Higher Yields and Built-In Risk Protection
William Sokol Director of Product Management

March 03, 2023

Are CLOs part of your core income portfolio? This white paper explores how CLOs are structured and why we believe they are compelling in the current environment.

Income Investing Blog

Forbes: Go Where the Yield Is
Fran Rodilosso Head of Fixed Income ETF Portfolio Management

February 24, 2023

Fran Rodilosso sat down with Forbes to discuss VanEck’s fallen angel high yield bond strategy and its record of systematically buying what others sell and selling what others buy.

Important Definitions & Disclosures

NAIC Designations are the intellectual property of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) and are redistributed here under License. An NAIC Designation is a proprietary symbol used by the NAIC Securities Valuation Office (SVO) to denote a category or band of credit risk (i.e., the likelihood of repayment in accordance with a written contract) for an issuer or for a security. NAIC Designations may be notched up or down to reflect the position of a specific liability in the issuer’s capital structure and/or the existence of other non-payment risk in the specific security. Under NAIC reporting rules, shares of an ETF are presumed to be reportable as common stock. The SVO may classify an ETF as a bond or preferred stock and assign it an NAIC Designation if it meets defined criteria. For a discussion of these criteria please call the SVO or refer to the Purposes and Procedures Manual of the NAIC Investment Analysis Office. The assignment of an NAIC Designation is not a recommendation to purchase the ETF and is not intended to convey approval or endorsement of the ETF Sponsor or the ETF by the NAIC.