EWP vs FLCA

EWPBiShares MSCI Spain ETF

FLCAAFranklin FTSE Canada ETF

In short

EWP Spain in one ticker. Trading since 1996, back when single-country ETFs were a novelty, EWP still does one job: track an index of Spanish equities and hold a capped basket of the country's largest listed companies.

FLCA Canada in one ticker, at index-fund pricing. FLCA tracks the FTSE Canada Capped Index, about 50 large- and mid-cap Canadian names, for 0.09% a year.

Stated mandate

EWP The fund seeks to track an index composed of Spanish equities.

FLCA The fund seeks to track the FTSE Canada Capped Index, which measures the performance of Canadian large- and mid-capitalization stocks.

Why people hold it

• EWP An ETF-industry original: launched in 1996, decades before most country funds existed, and still running the same plain mandate of tracking an index of Spanish stocks.
• The 25/50 caps in the index do real work in a top-heavy market: no single company can run away with the basket, and the biggest positions are limited as a group.ishares.com
• Undiluted country exposure. No Europe-wide blend, no US filler, just Spanish equities, which makes it a clean single dial for anyone tilting a portfolio toward one market.
• A billion-dollar-plus fund from the biggest ETF shop on the street, which is rare staying power for a single-country wrapper.

• FLCA 0.09% a year against a 0.45% median for index-tracking ETFs. On plain-vanilla country exposure, the fee gap is most of the story.
• The mandate is refreshingly plain: the FTSE Canada Capped Index, Canadian large and mid caps, no factor tilts, no derivatives overlay.
• Live since 2017 and one of the stronger implementations in a crowded field of index trackers.

Worth knowing

• EWP At 0.50% a year it runs above the typical index tracker and many times a broad core fund like VT at 0.06%. One country's worth of exposure carries a premium.
• The stocks trade in euros while the fund trades in dollars, so the currency swing rides along on top of whatever the Spanish market does.
• Volume is moderate rather than heavy, and cash comes once or twice a year instead of quarterly. Limit orders and patience are the tools here.

• FLCA About 50 stocks in one country. That is a targeted slice of the world, not a diversified core.
• Mid-sized and moderately traded, so limit orders are the sane way in and out.
• Distributions arrive once or twice a year rather than quarterly, which matters if you spend the income.

Full EWP profile⁠

Full FLCA profile⁠