EIS vs FLKR

EISCiShares MSCI Israel ETF

FLKRBFranklin FTSE South Korea ETF

In short

EIS One ticker for the whole Israeli stock market: roughly 120 names, large down to small, tracked through an MSCI index and packaged by iShares since 2008.

FLKR Korea in one passive basket for 0.09% a year, a fraction of the 0.50% typical single-country fee. Roughly 160 Korean names tracking a capped FTSE index, run as plain index plumbing rather than a stock-picking bet.

Stated mandate

EIS The fund seeks to track an index composed of Israeli equities, providing targeted exposure to companies in Israel.

FLKR The Fund uses a passive indexing approach to seek returns that closely correspond, before fees and expenses, to the FTSE South Korea Capped Index.

Why people hold it

• EIS "Investable Market" in the index name means mid and small caps ride along, roughly 120 holdings instead of a top-ten roster of giants.ishares.com
• Live since March 2008, so it comes with a long public record across multiple market cycles rather than a short history and a backtest.
• The index is capped, which limits how much of the fund any single company can occupy in a market where a few names loom large.ishares.com

• FLKR Charges 0.09% a year against a 0.50% median for single-country developed-market ETFs, tying FLAU as the cheapest fee among this cohort's leaders and undercutting EWC and EWU by a wide margin.
• Straight indexing: it seeks returns that closely correspond, before fees, to the FTSE South Korea Capped Index. No manager views, no discretionary tilts.
• The capped index spreads roughly 160 stocks and limits how far any single giant can dominate the basket, which matters in a market this top-heavy.
• A billion-dollar-plus fund that trades actively, and it has been running since 2017, so it is well past the launch-window stage.

Worth knowing

• EIS At 0.59%, it runs above the roughly 0.50% median for single-country developed-market funds, and well above index peers such as FLKR at 0.09%.
• One country, one currency, one headline cycle. A single-country fund concentrates risks that a regional or global mandate would spread around.
• Distributions arrive annually or semiannually, not on a quarterly drumbeat, so cash lands in lumps.

• FLKR One country, one currency. Korean shares price in won, so the exchange rate is baked into what a US investor sees, separate from how the companies do.
• Roughly 160 stocks in a single export-driven market is a narrow slice next to a global fund. Capping softens concentration, it does not erase it.
• Distributions land annually or semiannually, not monthly, so it is built as an equity holding rather than an income schedule.

Full EIS profile⁠

Full FLKR profile⁠