ECH vs FLMX

ECHBiShares MSCI Chile ETF

FLMXBFranklin FTSE Mexico ETF

In short

ECH One ticker, one country. Since 2007 ECH has been the iShares route into Chilean equities, tracking the MSCI Chile IMI 25/50 index with a compact basket of roughly 25 stocks.

FLMX Mexico exposure at a discount. Franklin's tracker charges 0.19%, a fraction of what single-country emerging-market funds usually cost, and holds a compact basket of the country's largest listed companies.

Stated mandate

ECH The fund seeks to track an index composed of Chilean equities and provides targeted exposure to companies in Chile.

FLMX The Fund seeks to track the performance of the FTSE Mexico Capped Index before fees and expenses through an indexing strategy, investing at least 80% of assets in index components or related exposure.

Why people hold it

• ECH Launched in 2007 and now a $1B-$5B fund, it is the long-running iShares wrapper for Chile rather than a recent launch chasing a theme.
• The index's 25/50 caps rein in the largest names, so one Chilean heavyweight cannot swallow the whole basket.ishares.com
• Charges 0.59% a year, level with the typical single-country emerging-market fund, and distributes quarterly.
• Moderately traded for such a narrow mandate, and it lands in the upper half of its single-country emerging-market peer group.

• FLMX At 0.19%, one of the cheapest wrappers for Mexican equities: well under the roughly 0.59% median in its single-country EM cohort, and under EWW's 0.50%.
• Plain, rules-based mandate: it tracks the FTSE Mexico Capped Index, keeping at least 80% of assets in index components or related exposure. No manager guesswork.
• The index is a capped one, which limits how much of the portfolio any single Mexican mega-cap can occupy.
• Live since 2017 and, on our review, one of the stronger implementations among single-country emerging-market funds.

Worth knowing

• ECH Around 25 holdings in one small market: a single sector wobble or a Santiago policy headline can move the entire fund.
• Fees sit at the category median, not below it. Cheaper single-country options exist, such as FLMX at 0.19%.
• The shares are priced in dollars while the stocks trade in pesos, so Chilean currency swings ride along with the equities.

• FLMX Thinly traded. Spreads can run wider than at the category's busiest funds, which adds to the real cost of getting in and out beyond the headline fee.
• One country, roughly 40 stocks. Concentration is the point, but it means Mexican policy, oil and peso moves all land straight in a dollar-based return.
• Income arrives quarterly, not monthly.

Full ECH profile⁠

Full FLMX profile⁠