BKIE vs VEA

BKIEABNY Mellon International Equity ETF

VEAAVanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF

In short

BKIE BNY Mellon's low-cost swing at the international index giants: roughly 1,000 large-cap stocks from developed markets outside the US at 0.04% a year, tracking a Morningstar benchmark instead of the MSCI and FTSE indexes its biggest rivals follow.

VEA Everything developed outside the US in one line item: roughly 3,900 stocks across Canada, Europe and the Pacific, small caps included. Vanguard has run it since 2007 at three basis points.

Stated mandate

BKIE The fund seeks to track the performance of the Morningstar® Developed Markets ex-US Large Cap Index.

VEA Seeks to track the FTSE Developed All Cap ex US Index through an indexing strategy investing substantially all assets in the index’s large-, mid-, and small-cap stocks across Canada, Europe, and the Pacific region.

Why people hold it

• BKIE Charges 0.04% a year, well under the typical fee in its developed-international peer group, and level with the cheapest core options from iShares, Vanguard and Schwab.
• Tracks its index about as tightly as anything in the category. The mandate is plain: match the Morningstar Developed Markets ex-US Large Cap Index, nothing else.
• About 1,000 large-cap names across developed markets outside the US in one ticker, with quarterly distributions.
• A multi-billion-dollar fund that stands in the upper half of a 26-fund developed-international cohort stacked with the industry's biggest index names.

• VEA Charges 0.03% a year against a 0.18% median for its peer group. Low cost is the whole point of index exposure, and this sits at the cheap end of it.
• The index reaches down to small caps and keeps Canada in, so you own about 3,900 companies across Canada, Europe and the Pacific, not just the mega-cap layer.vanguard.com
• Tracks its FTSE benchmark closely and trades in heavy volume, which keeps the spread to get in or out slim, whether the order is small or institutional.
• Live since 2007 and one of the largest international stock funds on the market. Distributions come quarterly.

Worth knowing

• BKIE Only moderately traded next to category heavyweights like VEA and SCHF, so spreads can be wider. Limit orders are the standard tool here.
• Launched in 2020, so the track record is shorter than the decades-old funds it competes with.
• Developed markets only. No US stocks, no emerging markets, no small caps. It is one slice of a portfolio, not the whole thing.

• VEA Developed markets only, and no US stocks. Emerging markets and the home market sit outside the mandate entirely.vanguard.com
• The 0.03% fee is matched, not owned: SPDW and SCHF price the same and IDEV is a hair above. The separator here is index construction, not cost.
• Plain index exposure, no buffer or downside protection. Foreign markets and the small-cap sleeve can swing hard, and the fund holds the full ride.

Full BKIE profile⁠

Full VEA profile⁠