CXSE vs NBCE

CXSEAWisdomTree China ex-State-Owned Enterprises Fund

NBCECNeuberger Berman China Equity ETF

In short

CXSE CXSE tracks an index that screens state-owned enterprises out of China, leaving the privately run companies. A tilt toward entrepreneurs rather than Beijing's balance sheet, at a fee well under the typical China fund.

NBCE A stock-picker's China fund: roughly 70 names spanning mainland A-shares, Hong Kong listings and ADRs, filtered through Neuberger Berman's own ESG ratings and measured against the MSCI China All Shares Index.

Stated mandate

CXSE The Fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the WisdomTree China ex-State-Owned Enterprises Index.

NBCE The Fund seeks long-term capital growth and normally invests at least 80% of net assets in equity investments economically tied to China, primarily China A-shares, Chinese securities listed in Hong Kong, and ADRs.

Why people hold it

• CXSE The whole design is one screen: state-controlled companies out, privately run ones in, about 200 of them. Not a broad China index with a tweak.
• 0.32% a year, well under half the 0.70% median for single-country China funds.
• Trading since 2012, and one of the tighter, more faithful builds in a crowded China cohort.

• NBCE Reaches across the whole China market: mainland A-shares plus Hong Kong listings and ADRs, so onshore domestic names sit alongside the offshore giants many China ETFs stop at.
• Roughly 70 holdings, not hundreds. A concentrated book where individual picks carry real weight, rather than a thin slice of a sprawling benchmark.
• Runs an in-house screen: Neuberger Berman's own ESG ratings methodology shapes the universe instead of buying the index whole.
• The portfolio stays on-mandate, with at least 80% of net assets in equities economically tied to China, as the prospectus spells out.

Worth knowing

• CXSE Thinly traded next to China heavyweights like MCHI and GXC, so limit orders matter more here.
• One country, about 200 stocks, and none of the state-backed heavyweights as ballast. Swings run bigger than a diversified global fund's.
• Cheap for the group, not the cheapest: FLCH (0.19%) and JCHI (0.15%) undercut it with different mandates.

• NBCE Cost is the headline trade-off: an expense ratio just above 5%, next to 0.19% for FLCH and 0.59% for MCHI on the same shelf.
• Small and thinly traded next to the big China trackers, which tends to mean wider spreads and more attention needed on how you place an order.
• One country, one policy regime. Chinese regulation, currency and mainland access rules drive the ride, and the fund has only been trading since 2023.

Full CXSE profile⁠

Full NBCE profile⁠