JEMA vs MEMX

JEMAAJPMorgan ActiveBuilders Emerging Markets Equity ETF

MEMXDMatthews Emerging Markets ex China Active ETF MEMX

In short

JEMA Active emerging-markets management priced like an index fund: J.P. Morgan blends its own country, region and style EM strategies into one roughly 500-stock portfolio built to keep the MSCI EM index's sector and country risk shape.

MEMX Most emerging-markets funds come with China baked in. MEMX takes it out by charter, putting at least 80% of assets in emerging-market stocks outside China and handing the picks to active managers at Asia specialist Matthews.

Stated mandate

JEMA Seeks long-term capital appreciation through a portfolio of emerging-market equities.

MEMX The fund seeks its objective by investing at least 80% of net assets in common and preferred stocks of companies located in emerging-market countries other than China.

Why people hold it

• JEMA 0.33% a year, about half the 0.65% median for active EM funds and level with the cheapest names in the group (AVEM, AVXC, AVSE).
• Not one manager's hunch: the portfolio stitches together a range of J.P. Morgan's actively managed EM strategies across countries, regions and styles.sec.gov
• Active tilts, benchmark shape. It overweights and underweights countries and sectors versus the MSCI EM index while aiming to hold similar sector and geographic risk.sec.gov
• A multi-billion-dollar fund that stands among the strongest implementations in the active EM group on cost and structure.

• MEMX The China carve-out is written into the prospectus: at least 80% of net assets in common and preferred stocks of emerging-market companies outside China.
• Active by design. Managers choose the holdings rather than replicate the MSCI Emerging Markets ex China Index, which serves as the yardstick.
• Run by Matthews Asia, a boutique built around Asia and emerging markets, not a broad-lineup shop filling a hole in its menu. Launched in 2023.

Worth knowing

• JEMA Active means results ride on the adviser's calls, and the fund has only been trading since 2021, a short record for an EM strategy.sec.gov
• Full-market EM exposure runs hot: volatility screens as the softer part of the picture next to peers, the trade-off for staying in the whole asset class.
• Moderately traded rather than a tape giant, and cash comes back once or twice a year, not monthly.

• MEMX 0.79% a year sits above the roughly 0.65% median for active EM peers, and far above index-based ex-China options such as AVXC at 0.33%.
• Thinly traded and modest in size, so spreads and order type matter more here than in the category's largest funds.
• Leaving China out cuts both ways: returns can drift a long way from a standard emerging-markets fund in either direction.

Full JEMA profile⁠

Full MEMX profile⁠