EWI vs FLKR

EWIBiShares MSCI Italy ETF

FLKRBFranklin FTSE South Korea ETF

In short

EWI Italy in one ticker, and that ticker has been trading since 1996. EWI holds a capped basket of roughly two dozen large Italian companies, a concentrated slice of one economy rather than a spread across Europe.

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

EWI The fund seeks to track an index of Italian equities.

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

• EWI Launched in 1996, one of the original single-country funds, and now a multi-billion-dollar fund. Decades of live operating history, not a launch-week experiment.
• No stock picking, no overlays: it tracks the MSCI Italy 25/50 Index, and it sits in the upper tier of developed single-country funds on our review.ishares.com
• The index is a capped version, limiting how large any single holding can grow. That matters when the whole portfolio is only around 25 names.ishares.com
• One trade gets the listed heart of the Italian market, instead of assembling ADRs name by name. Moderately traded, with the usual iShares plumbing behind it.

• 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

• EWI The 0.50% fee is exactly the median for developed single-country funds, though cheaper builds exist in the group: FLKR and FLAU both charge 0.09%.
• Around 25 stocks, one country, one currency. Concentration in a single market is the point here, and iShares flags that risk in the fund's own materials.ishares.com
• Distributions come annually or semiannually, so any income arrives in lumps rather than a monthly drip.

• 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 EWI profile⁠

Full FLKR profile⁠