Vanguard is set to end its more than two-year launch hiatus with a trio of fixed income ETFs.

The Vanguard Global Government Bond UCITS ETF, the Vanguard EUR Eurozone Government 1-3 Year Bond UCITS ETF and the Vanguard EUR Corporate 1-3 Year Bond UCITS ETF have received approval from the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI).

The filings of the three index-tracking products come after the firm revealed it was considering entering Europe's active ETF market within the fixed income arena.

At ETF Stream's ETF Ecosystem Unwrapped 2024 event in May, Vanguard's Europe distribution head Robyn Laidlaw said there was "a lot of opportunity" amid "a new era of fixed income investing".

“Active ETFs would not be off the table for us but you have to get the right type of active in portfolios.

“I completely understand why active managers would be looking to the ETF market because there have been massive outflows year on year, so it is important to find opportunities in ETFs.

“If we were looking at active, it would be in the line of fixed income,” Laidlaw said

Since entering the European market in 2012, the $10.1trn US asset manager has taken a circumspect approach to ETF introductions with just 34 products on its roster.

This stands in contrast to Europe’s big three providers – BlackRock, Amundi and DWS – which have more than 1,000 ETPs between them.

Vanguard’s ETFs, however, command healthy per-product inflows and 2024 has been another good year for the firm.

Since passing the €100bn milestone last October, the assets under management of its UCITS ETF range has climbed to around €160bn, according to data from LSEG Lipper.

Earlier this year, Vanguard joined appointed former global head of iShares Salim Ramji joined as CEO – the first time it has recruited externally for the position.