EWQ vs FLKR

EWQBiShares MSCI France ETF

FLKRBFranklin FTSE South Korea ETF

In short

EWQ One of the original country ETFs, running since 1996: about 60 French large and mid caps in one ticker. Fee sits right at the typical developed-market country fund, with a nearly three-decade record behind it.

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

EWQ The fund seeks to track an index composed of French equities and provides targeted exposure to companies in France.

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

• EWQ Launched in 1996, making it one of the oldest single-country funds still trading, with a long record tracking the MSCI France Index.ishares.com
• Does the job it advertises: follows its French equity index closely and lands in the upper half of developed-market single-country funds.
• The 0.50% fee matches the median for developed single-country ETFs, and the same sticker as iShares' UK (EWU) and Canada (EWC) siblings.
• A single-ticker way to dial France up or down instead of rebuilding a broad Europe sleeve stock by stock.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

• EWQ One country, roughly 60 names. Concentration is the whole point here, and it swings harder than a broad Europe or global fund.
• Dollar-listed, euro-denominated assets underneath: currency moves feed straight into what you see.ishares.com
• Cheaper wrappers exist in this cohort (Franklin's country funds run 0.09%), though none of them point at France.

• 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 EWQ profile⁠

Full FLKR profile⁠