BKEM vs XC

BKEMABNY Mellon Emerging Markets Equity ETF

XCBWisdomTree True Emerging Markets Fund

In short

BKEM The whole emerging world, priced like an afterthought. BNY Mellon charges 0.11% to hold well over a thousand large- and mid-cap stocks across developing markets. Broad, cheap, and very quiet.

XC Most ex-China EM funds still lean hard on Korea and Taiwan. XC cuts all three, then screens out companies with 20% or more government ownership. Emerging markets at its most literal, roughly 800 names deep.

Stated mandate

BKEM The fund is designed to follow the performance of an emerging-markets large- and mid-cap equity index.

XC The Fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the WisdomTree True Emerging Markets Index.

Why people hold it

• BKEM 0.11% a year puts it near the bottom of the emerging-markets fee shelf, well under what the typical fund in the category charges.
• Roughly 1,800 holdings, so you own the mid-cap tail of emerging markets, not just the handful of mega-caps that dominate the better-known indexes.
• Buys the full emerging-markets basket rather than carving out China the way top-rated peers XCEM and VEXC do. One allocation decision you do not have to make.
• Plain indexing, run the same way since the 2020 launch: it hews closely to its Solactive benchmark instead of drifting off-mandate.

• XC Two screens stacked: China, Korea and Taiwan are out, and so is any company with 20% or more government ownership. An unusual pairing in the ex-China aisle.wisdomtree.com
• Fee is 0.32% a year, below the median for the emerging-markets funds we grade, and the same sticker as WisdomTree's China-inclusive sibling XSOE.
• Roughly 800 holdings spread the exposure instead of resting on a few mega-caps, part of why it lands in the upper half of its EM peer group. Pays quarterly.

Worth knowing

• BKEM Thinly traded. Spreads can widen, so order size and timing matter more here than with the category's household names.
• A small fund next to the emerging-markets giants, which is worth knowing if scale and deep secondary-market liquidity are on your checklist.
• Emerging-markets equity carries currency and single-country political swings; 1,800 names spread that around but do not erase it. Distributions come quarterly.

• XC The mandate widened in July 2025; before that it was the ex-China fund, so earlier results reflect a different index. The fund itself dates to 2022.wisdomtree.com
• Thinly traded, so bid-ask spreads and order type matter more here than with the category's giants.
• Cheaper doors into ex-China EM exist, including VEXC at 0.07% and XCEM at 0.16%, though neither applies WisdomTree's proprietary state-ownership screen.wisdomtree.com

Full BKEM profile⁠

Full XC profile⁠