INTL vs IQSI

INTL—Main International ETF

IQSI—NYLI Candriam International Equity ETF

In short

INTL An active international value fund with an unusual two-sided mandate in its own documents: beat the MSCI ACWI ex-USA index over a full market cycle while carrying less risk than it. The trade-off is the price tag.

IQSI Candriam's rules-based international index at 0.15%, while the typical fund in its peer group charges 0.35%. About 600 non-US stocks, quarterly distributions, and a portfolio that stays inside the mandate its filings describe.

Stated mandate

INTL The Fund aims to beat the MSCI All Country World ex-USA Index across a complete market cycle while keeping risk below the benchmark.

IQSI The fund aims to track the performance of the NYLI Candriam International Equity Index, before fees and expenses.

Why people hold it

• INTL The objective is written two ways: outperform MSCI ACWI ex-USA across a complete market cycle and keep risk below the benchmark. Downside discipline is part of the job description, not an afterthought.
• A real stock-picking mandate with a value lean across markets outside the US, in a corner of the market now dominated by systematic, rules-driven value products.
• Plain vanilla plumbing: a standard 1940 Act equity ETF, no leverage, no derivatives overlay, no K-1 at tax time.

• IQSI Fifteen basis points for broad non-US equity. The median fund in its international peer group charges more than double that.
• About 600 holdings tracking a single Candriam index, so no one company or bet carries the portfolio.
• The portfolio does what the prospectus says: international equity, no drift into US large caps or other asset classes.
• Sits in the upper half of the broad international funds we grade, and pays out quarterly.

Worth knowing

• INTL At 1.03%, the fee sits well above systematic peers like AVIV (0.25%) and AVDV (0.36%), so the manager starts each year further behind the benchmark.
• A small, thinly traded fund. Spreads can run wider than the category's household names, and order size matters more than it would in a mega-fund.
• Launched in 2022, so there is no track record spanning the full market cycle its own objective uses as the yardstick.

• IQSI Thinly traded next to the category's heavyweights, so bid-ask spreads can quietly cost more than the fee line does.
• Cheaper peers exist: VXUS at 0.05% and IPAC at 0.09%. The Candriam index is what the extra basis points buy.
• Everything here is priced in foreign currencies, so exchange rates move returns alongside the underlying companies.

Full INTL profile⁠

Full IQSI profile⁠