ETF Evaluator: William Blair Emerging Income ETF (WINC) Follow This ETF

William Blair Emerging Income ETF Overview

William Blair Emerging Income ETF (WINC) is an actively managed Taxable Bond Emerging Markets Bond exchange-traded fund (ETF). William Blair launched the ETF in 2021.

The investment seeks to provide attractive risk-adjusted returns relative to the fund's benchmark. Under normal circumstances, the fund invests at least 80% of its net assets (plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in debt instruments that are economically tied to emerging market countries, which may be represented by forwards or derivatives such as options, futures contracts or swap agreements. It is non-diversified.

About William Blair Emerging Income ETF (WINC)

There are 3 members of the management team with an average tenure of 3.64 years: Luis Olguin (2026), Marcelo Assalin (2021) and Marco Ruijer (2021). Management tenure is more important for actively managed ETFs than passive index ETFs.

The ETF has 2 primary benchmarks: Bloomberg Global Aggregate TR USD index with a weighting of 100% and JPM EMBI Global Diversified TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. William Blair Emerging Income ETF has 288 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 14.6% of the ETF’s assets. The ETF meets the SEC requirement of being classified as a nondiversified fund. The ETF is not considered to have an ESG focus with its investment selection and management.

William Blair Emerging Income ETF is part of the Fixed Income global asset class and is within the Taxable Bond ETF group. William Blair Emerging Income ETF has 134.9% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 0.0% There is 0.0% allocated to foreign stock, and 0.0% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 94.0% (-40.9% domestic bond, 134.9% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). William Blair Emerging Income ETF has 6.0% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $83 million in total assets, which is below the $1 billion average for the Emerging Markets Bond category. Normally, lower assets under management translates to higher average expense ratios, and greater total assets are desired. However, for some investment categories, such as small-cap investing, it may be difficult for the manager to fully employ the desired active strategy if assets grow too large or too quickly.

WINC Performance and Fees

The expense ratio measures how much of a fund’s assets are used for administrative expenses and operating expenses, including adviser fees and fees for the transfer agent and custodial services. The William Blair Emerging Income ETF expense ratio is average compared to funds in the Emerging Markets Bond category. William Blair Emerging Income ETF has an expense ratio of 0.55%, which is 23% higher than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a D. While it is difficult to predict returns, it is known that high annual expense ratios reduce your rate of return, and excessive fees are difficult to overcome. Active management normally comes with higher expense ratios than passive index management. Certain investment categories such as small company and foreign also normally have higher expense ratios. It is best to compare fund expense ratios against the category averages for meaningful assessments.

High portfolio turnover can translate to higher expenses and lower aftertax returns. William Blair Emerging Income ETF has a portfolio turnover rate of 120%, which indicates that it holds its assets around / 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 53% for the Emerging Markets Bond category.

Recently, in the month of October 2026, William Blair Emerging Income ETF returned 0.3%, which earned it a grade of F, as the Emerging Markets Bond category had an average return of 0.9%. The letter grades of A, B, C, D and F are based upon relative rankings within the investment category. A grade of A, for example, would indicate that the return is in the highest 20% for that time period compared to all ETFs in that category.

William Blair Emerging Income ETF has a trailing yield of 6.61%, which is above the 6.26% category average. The fund normally distributes its income monthly.

It’s natural to seek the best-performing investments, but you must consider the relationship between risk and return and the impact of costs and taxes on your realized returns.

William Blair Emerging Income ETF Grades

Year to date, the ETF has returned 1.8%, 1.2 percentage points better than the category, which translates into a grade of A. The fund has returned 3.2% over the past year (grade of A), 12.9% over the past three years (grade of A) and 3.7% per year over the past five years (grade of A).

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