EZA vs FLMX

EZABiShares MSCI South Africa ETF

FLMXBFranklin FTSE Mexico ETF

In short

EZA Since 2003, the plain US-listed way to own the Johannesburg market: about 27 large and mid-cap South African stocks, with index caps keeping any one corporate group from taking over the portfolio.

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

EZA The fund seeks to track an index made up of South African 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

• EZA Listed since 2003, it is the long-running US-listed pure play on South African equities: one ticker instead of a pile of Johannesburg listings and ADRs.ishares.com
• The 25/50 index rules cap any single company group at 25% of the index and hold all 5%-plus groups to 50% combined, so no one Johannesburg giant can swallow the fund.msci.commsci.com 2
• The index targets the large and mid-cap core of the market, roughly 85% of South Africa's free-float value. You get the country's benchmark, not a stock picker's guess.msci.com
• At 0.59% the fee sits right at the median for single-country emerging-market ETFs, and the fund stands among the stronger implementations in that group.

• 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

• EZA Around 27 holdings, with miners and financials doing most of the work. Concentration is the whole point of a single-country fund, and it cuts both ways.ishares.com
• The stocks trade in rand, the fund reports in dollars. Currency moves ride along with the share prices, in both directions.ishares.com
• 0.59% is normal for a single-country fund but well above broad emerging-market index funds, and cash comes back once or twice a year, not quarterly.

• 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 EZA profile⁠

Full FLMX profile⁠