FLGB vs MKOR

FLGBAFranklin FTSE United Kingdom ETF

MKORDMatthews Korea Active ETF MKOR

In short

FLGB Britain in one ticker for nine basis points. Franklin's UK tracker follows a capped FTSE index of roughly 110 British companies and charges a small fraction of what the typical index fund in its peer group costs.

MKOR Korea, stock by stock. MKOR is an actively managed, Asia-specialist take on a corner of the ETF market that cheap index trackers mostly own: one country, one team's picks, and a price tag to match.

Stated mandate

FLGB The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the performance of the FTSE UK RIC Capped Index.

MKOR The fund seeks long-term capital appreciation.

Why people hold it

• FLGB 0.09% a year, a fraction of the median fee across the index trackers we grade. Cheap is the whole pitch for single-country beta, and this one delivers it.
• One trade, roughly 110 UK companies. A passive, rules-based mandate tied to the FTSE UK RIC Capped Index, running since its 2017 launch.
• Stands in the top quartile of its plain-index-wrapper peer group, and the mandate data behind that read is high confidence.

• MKOR Active by design: the managers pick Korean stocks in pursuit of long-term capital appreciation instead of owning whatever an index prints.
• Run by an Asia-focused shop, and the portfolio sits where the filings say it should: South Korean equities, no drift into the neighbors.
• A plain 1940 Act fund wrapper holding stocks. No notes, no partnership paperwork, and a strategy whose history goes back to a 2010 launch.

Worth knowing

• FLGB Single-country by design: UK listings only, so there is no cushion from other markets inside the fund. Broad global trackers like VT spread that bet differently.
• Moderately traded rather than a volume monster, so limit orders are the sane way in and out.
• Distributions arrive once or twice a year, not monthly. Income lands in lumps.

• MKOR 0.79% a year is real money against the roughly 0.50% median for single-country funds, and passive Korea rivals like FLKR charge 0.09%.
• Thinly traded and one of the smaller funds in its category, so wider spreads are part of the deal.
• Everything rides on one market, with no other countries to cushion a rough stretch in Korea. Cash comes back once or twice a year, not monthly.

Full FLGB profile⁠

Full MKOR profile⁠