BRF vs FLBR

BRFCVanEck Brazil Small-Cap ETF

FLBRAFranklin FTSE Brazil ETF

In short

BRF Brazil without the giants. BRF tracks an index of roughly 90 Brazilian small caps, a narrower and more domestic slice than the broad country funds, and it has been doing that job since 2009.

FLBR Brazil at roughly a third the fee of the typical fund in the category. Franklin tracks a capped FTSE index of about 100 Brazilian stocks, and has hugged that benchmark closely since launching in 2017.

Stated mandate

BRF The fund seeks to replicate, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the MVIS Brazil Small-Cap Index.

FLBR The fund uses a passive indexing approach intended to track the performance of the FTSE Brazil Capped Index before fees and expenses.

Why people hold it

• BRF A pure index play on Brazilian small caps: roughly 90 names, one mandate, no drift into other markets or size bands.
• A different cut of Brazil than broad-market peers EWZ and FLBR: same country, opposite end of the size spectrum.
• Live since 2009, with more than a decade of real trading history across Brazil's boom and bust cycles.
• Rules-based from top to bottom: it replicates the MVIS Brazil Small-Cap Index rather than letting a manager pick the winners.

• FLBR 0.19% a year against a 0.60% median for Brazil funds. In a market this jumpy, the fee is the one input you actually control.
• Same large-cap Brazil market as EWZ at 0.59%, for well under half the cost, and one of the strongest all-round builds in the Brazil group.
• Plain index plumbing: it aims to match the FTSE Brazil Capped Index before fees, and its tracking has stayed very close to that benchmark.
• Backed by Franklin Templeton and trading since 2017, so this is a seasoned wrapper rather than a fresh single-country launch.

Worth knowing

• BRF The 0.60% fee sits at the middle of the Brazil ETF pack, and broad-market FLBR charges 0.19%. The premium buys the small-cap tilt, not a discount.
• A small fund that trades lightly, so spreads tend to be wider than on the headline Brazil ETFs, especially away from Brazilian market hours.
• One country, one size band: currency moves and local politics land harder here than in a diversified emerging-markets fund. Income arrives once or twice a year, not monthly.

• FLBR One country, about 100 mostly large companies, in a currency tied to commodities and politics. Concentration is the whole point, and it cuts both ways.
• It changes hands less often than the category's giant, EWZ, so spreads can run wider. Limit orders earn their keep.
• Cash comes quarterly, and the amount rides on what Brazilian companies choose to pay out, which varies year to year.

Full BRF profile⁠

Full FLBR profile⁠