EPHE vs FLMX

EPHECiShares MSCI Philippines ETF

FLMXAFranklin FTSE Mexico ETF

In short

EPHE A single-ticker route into the Philippine stock market: roughly 30 large, mid and small caps from an MSCI index, in an iShares wrapper that has traded since 2010. Narrow by design, so the country's biggest listed names set the tone.

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

EPHE The fund seeks to track an index composed of Philippine equities.

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

• EPHE Straight Philippines exposure in one US-listed fund, tracking the MSCI Philippines IMI 25/50 Index, which reaches past the mega caps into mid and small caps.ishares.com
• Fee sits at 0.59%, dead center for single-country emerging-market funds and the same sticker as EPOL and EZA.
• The 25/50 capping rules built into its index limit how much weight any one issuer can carry, a real constraint in a market this small.
• iShares has run it since 2010 on a plain index mandate: no manager stock picks, no strategy drift.ishares.com

• 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

• EPHE About 30 stocks in the whole basket, so a handful of Philippine heavyweights drive most of the movement, up or down.
• Moderately traded and mid-sized, and US hours never overlap Manila's, so the share price can drift from the value of the stocks inside.
• One country, one currency: peso moves land in your dollar return, and the index counts dividends after foreign withholding tax. Payouts come once or twice a year, not monthly.

• 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 EPHE profile⁠

Full FLMX profile⁠