---
title: "First Trust's AFDM and AFEM summary prospectuses take effect, still printing the 2016 record"
url: "https://etf.net/news/first-trust-s-afdm-and-afem-summary-prospectuses-take-effect-still-printing-the-2016-record-2026-09-14"
published_at: "2026-09-14T11:51:22.497Z"
updated_at: "2026-09-14T11:51:22.497Z"
byline: "ETF.net Research"
---

# First Trust's AFDM and AFEM summary prospectuses take effect, still printing the 2016 record

First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund III's Form 497Ks for AFDM and AFEM took effect Monday, September 14, 2026, restating expenses at 0.80% for AFDM and 0.85% for AFEM.

By ETF.net Research. Published Sep 14, 2026.

The summary prospectuses now in force for two First Trust international equity funds still print returns that begin in 2016, generated under a process the documents no longer describe. The papers, dated Friday, September 11, confirm that the funds changed their names, tickers, and principal strategies that day and dropped their sub-advisor. They also warn that results from before that date are not necessarily indicative of how the funds will perform under the current strategies.

The developed-market international fund, the First Trust Active Factor International ETF AFDM, and the emerging-markets fund, the First Trust Active Factor Emerging Markets ETF AFEM, are the same legal series that closed Friday as RFDI and RFEM. The new short forms describe the holders of those two books: **$168 million** in the international series and **$85 million** in emerging markets as of September 10. The performance tables still run from the series' inception dates, April 13, 2016, and June 14, 2016.

## AFDM and AFEM fees and the factor process

On Thursday, July 2, First Trust said it would cut the international series' management fee from 0.83% to **0.80%** of average daily net assets, and the emerging-markets series' from 0.95% to **0.85%**. Monday's papers restate both the management fee and total annual operating expenses at those new levels. The international fund's portfolio turnover was 3% in the most recent fiscal year; the emerging-markets fund's was 4%. Both warn that Friday's strategy change may produce higher turnover this fiscal year. The papers say a higher turnover rate can mean higher transaction costs and, in a taxable account, higher taxes.

First Trust Advisors L.P. manages both through its Investment Committee. Both funds are actively managed. Under normal market conditions they will invest at least **80%** of net assets in their stated markets: developed-market international equities listed on U.S. and non-U.S. exchanges for AFDM, and securities of emerging-market companies for AFEM. They rely primarily on a multi-factor quantitative process that may take into account value, momentum, quality, and low volatility. The advisor can change those factors.

Source: etf.net, https://etf.net/news/first-trust-s-afdm-and-afem-summary-prospectuses-take-effect-still-printing-the-2016-record-2026-09-14. Please cite the page URL.