Ultra Short Municipal ETF

Nick Venditti: In a world full of municipal bonds—and let's be honest, that's a pretty wonderful world—how do you choose the best way to invest? I'm Nick Venditti, head of Municipal Fixed Income at Allspring Global Investments, and I'm excited to introduce something that might make that choice a little easier: the Allspring Ultra Short Muni ETF (exchange-traded fund), or AUSM. AUSM focuses on delivering current income through investments in short duration, high-credit-quality municipal securities in the tax-efficient, liquid, and cost-effective structure of an ETF. The fund provides investors access to the very front end of the yield curve, seeking to deliver the compelling combination of tax-free income potential with low interest rate risk. We take an active approach with AUSM, leveraging our institutional expertise to provide investors a differentiated investment strategy with characteristics that are intentionally unique to its category. So, if you're ready to put your cash to work but aren't sure where to start, here's why AUSM should be in consideration. The ETF is based on our popular Municipal Ultra Short Plus strategy that we offer in a variety of vehicle types already. AUSM delivers an ETF version with the same strategy, which has many key advantages. First is our team. The Municipal Fixed Income team is uniquely structured to promote independent thinking and partnership. Instead of the more traditional muni asset management model where there's a firm divide between credit analysts and portfolio managers, our PMs, our research analysts, and our traders all work together in seeking to capture maximum alpha, or excess returns relative to the benchmark, through exploiting and capitalizing on market inefficiencies. Second is our collaborative approach, which allows us to work together across asset classes and teams. We frequently reach across the aisle and gain intelligence on corporate bonds from taxable fixed income analysts, which helps us gain a holistic perspective on the fixed income markets. This allows us to make investment decisions that aren't made in solely a muni world vacuum. We also place a strong emphasis on risk management, working in close partnership with our Investment Analytics team to assess market risk on a daily basis. Finally, we have both the willingness and the ability to move down in credit. With this flexibility, we can look to add potential yield and value while still remaining firm and uncompromising in our investment process, which is highlighted by a disciplined relative value orientation and timely credit research. We understand market and interest rate volatility and the critical need for capital stability, especially in shorter-duration investments. That's why our active ETF, AUSM, is built by our experts to prioritize not just performance, but the bigger picture of actively seeking the right bond at the right price at the right time. We believe our approach offers investors a truly differentiated strategy for accessing this unique part of the muni market. If you're ready to get active with putting cash to work or just want to dial down duration in munis, consider investing with our Municipal Fixed Income team’s new ETF. We think it's pretty awesome.