EMB vs GEMD

EMBAiShares J.P. Morgan USD Emerging Markets Bond ETF

GEMDBGoldman Sachs Access Emerging Markets USD Bond ETF

In short

EMB Emerging markets without the currency guesswork: EMB owns dollar-denominated EM debt, tracking J.P. Morgan's index since 2007. Roughly 600 bonds, income paid monthly.

GEMD Emerging market debt priced in dollars, not local currency: the risk you take is issuer credit, not the peso. Goldman tracks a rules-based index of roughly 150 EM bonds for 0.30% and pays monthly.

Stated mandate

EMB The fund seeks to follow an index made up of U.S.-dollar-denominated bonds issued in emerging markets.

GEMD The Fund seeks to track the performance of the FTSE Goldman Sachs Emerging Markets USD Bond Index before fees and expenses. It normally invests at least 80% of assets, excluding securities-lending collateral, in securities included in that index.

Why people hold it

• EMB Dollar-denominated by mandate. The bonds are issued in USD, so local currency moves don't pass straight through to what the fund collects.ishares.com
• About 600 bonds across emerging market borrowers, one of the broadest baskets in its peer group.
• A multi-billion-dollar fund running since 2007 and one of the most actively traded ways to get this exposure, which tends to show up as tighter spreads at retail size.
• Distributions land monthly rather than quarterly.

• GEMD Every bond is dollar denominated, so the exposure hinges on emerging market issuers' credit rather than currency swings against the dollar.
• At 0.30%, it undercuts iShares' EMB, the household name in dollar EM debt, which charges 0.39%.
• Rules, not hunches: at least 80% of assets sit in its FTSE Goldman Sachs index, spread across roughly 150 bonds, with cash paid out monthly.
• What's inside matches what the prospectus promises, with no off-mandate sleeves bolted on.

Worth knowing

• EMB Costs 0.39% a year, above its cohort's 0.19% median and well above plain EM stock index funds like VWO and SCHE at 0.06%.
• It's a bond fund sitting in a mostly-stock peer group. What drives it is emerging market credit and interest rates, not company earnings.
• The USD-only screen skips local-currency emerging market government debt, so that slice of the market, and its currency swings, is left out.ishares.com

• GEMD Broad EM equity trackers like VWO and SCHE cost 0.06%. Different asset class, but this sits at the pricier end of the emerging markets aisle.
• It's a small fund and among the thinner traders in its group, which can mean wider bid-ask spreads than the category's giants.
• Launched in 2022, so the operating history is short next to long-running EM bond funds.

Full EMB profile⁠

Full GEMD profile⁠