T. Rowe Price's 0.45% fund undercuts VanEck's full emerging-markets bond mix

The T. Rowe Price Dynamic Emerging Markets Bond ETF, —TDEM, began trading on Nasdaq on Thursday, October 1, at an annual fee of 0.45%. Managers, not an index, mix government bonds, company bonds and local-currency bonds, which are priced in the issuer's own currency rather than in dollars.

That mix is already for sale. VanEck's Emerging Markets Bond ETF, BEMBX, can buy emerging-market government and company bonds in both dollars and local currencies. The strategy dates to 2012, and VanEck has offered it as an ETF since October 2025.

As of Monday, October 5, it held $287 million and charged 0.65%, 0.20 percentage points more than —TDEM. The fee was 0.76% until Wednesday, September 30.

The large index fund is cheaper and narrower. The iShares J.P. Morgan USD Emerging Markets Bond ETF, AEMB, the largest of these funds, tracks government and government-linked bonds priced in dollars. It has traded since 2007, charges 0.39% and held $12.7 billion.

Global X's Emerging Markets Bond ETF, BEMBD, an active fund, buys mostly dollar-priced emerging-market debt and may also hold local-currency bonds. It charges 0.39% and held $238 million.

Franklin Templeton listed the Templeton Emerging Markets Debt ETF, DTEMD, in January at the same 0.45%. It is built around bonds in major currencies, with select local-currency positions, and held $47.2 million as of Sunday, October 4.

iShares also sells an active fund, limited to hard-currency bonds, priced in major currencies such as the dollar rather than the local one. The iShares Emerging Markets Bond Active ETF, CBREM, charges 0.50% and held $33.7 million.

Local-currency government bonds are already available without a manager. VanEck's J.P. Morgan EM Local Currency Bond ETF, AEMLC, tracks an index of them, charges 0.30% and held $4.9 billion. Buying it next to AEMB still leaves out company bonds, and leaves the holder to decide the split.

The prospectus, dated August 1, is more specific. The fund normally keeps at least 80% of its assets in emerging-market debt, and frontier markets, the smaller ones with less trading, count. It may buy bonds of any credit rating, including bonds that have already defaulted, and it is nondiversified, so it may put a larger share in one issuer than a typical fund may.

Leonard Kwan runs the portfolio with Samy Muaddi, head of emerging markets for the firm's fixed-income division, and Richard Hall. Kwan said the job is to navigate "divergent growth, inflation, and currency trends."

A portfolio as of Sunday, October 4, listed 122 positions. Cash was the largest line, at 7.8%. Government bonds included Brazilian and Mexican local-currency notes and a South African local-currency bond, plus a Czech bond.

—TDEM held $19.9 million on Monday. Average daily trading has been about $40,000, against about $1.6 million for BEMBX.

The full mix was already available at 0.65%. Franklin charges the same 0.45% and Global X charges 0.39%, but both lean toward dollar bonds. That makes —TDEM the cheaper way to give one manager the full mix, including low-rated debt, and the fund has no record yet.