PowerShares, one of the world’s biggest ETFs issuers, has long enjoyed a dominant position across a number of asset classes and segments in the ETF world. The firm’s ETFs often seek to outperform traditional benchmarks, or provide investors with access to new strategies or investment styles.

The firm is again adding a number of products into the pipeline. In the past six months, PowerShares has launched the S&P 500 High Dividend ETF (SPHD), which targets high yield low volatility securities in the American market, and PowerShares S&P 500 Downside Hedged Portfolio (PHDG) which provide access to the broad S&P 500 with an implied volatility hedge.

Last month, the firm also rolled out two products with low-volatility strategies – S&P MidCap Low Volatility Portfolio ETF (XMLV) and S&P SmallCap Low Volatility Portfolio ETF (XSLV) (read: PowerShares Expands Low Volatility ETF Line-ups).

However, this doesn’t appear to be the end of the firm’s new lineup as the company has introduced another filing to the market for the PowerShares Global Select Short Term Bond Portfolio. This latest SEC filing targets the global bond market with a focus on the short end of the yield curve.

While a great deal of important information – such as expense ratio or ticker symbol – was not available in the initial release, some key points were released in the filing. We have highlighted those below for investors, who may be looking for a new bond play from PowerShares should it pass regulatory hurdles:

Proposed Methodology

The proposed ETF looks to track the DB Global Dynamic Short Maturity Bond Index. The fund will generally invest 80% of its assets in public and private investment grade, short-term bonds that are denominated in U.S. dollars.

In terms of credit quality, the product looks to focus on BBB- or higher rated bonds from Fitch and S&P or Baa3 or higher from Moody’s. The remaining maturity of the securities should not be greater than 3 years.

How may it fit in a portfolio?

The product could be an interesting choice for investors seeking safe exposure to the fixed income market. This safety will largely be due to the low duration risk, although the investment grade holdings also help as well (read: Time for Inverse Bond ETFs?).

Both of these factors could come into play if the Fed looks to tighten anytime soon, or if investors see more corporate defaults in the near future. If either of these scenarios happen, this proposed bond ETF could be a beneficiary.

Still, investors should note that the low duration is likely to make this ETF a poor choice for income. Instead, the focus of this product should likely be the stability and its global offering which could stretch around the world.