In the third series released by Amundi this year, following earlier launches in May and June, investors can gain exposure to individual emerging market countries and to broader emerging market regions too.
The ETFs are based on MSCI indices and offer competitive Total Expense Ratios (TERs) in comparison to products offered by Amundi’s peers.
The Amundi ETF MSCI Brazil has a TER of 0.55% compared to an average TER of 0.72% of competitor products also listed on the London Stock Exchange.
Similarly, the Amundi ETF MSCI China charges a TER of 0.55% against an average of 0.70% on comparable products from competitors.
ETF giant iShares charges 0.74% TER on its MSCI Brazil and FTSE China 25 products, while rival HSBC’s products in these regions have TERs of 0.60%.
Peter Sleep, senior portfolio manager at Seven Investment Management (7im), said: "I generally find Amundi products are if not the cheapest, then very close to the cheapest.
“Amundi products are generally pretty good if you are comfortable with swap-based ETFs. With swap-based ETFs you tend to get more precise tracking, but slightly higher counterparty risk, whereas with a physically based ETF you tend to get higher tracking error, but less counterparty risk.”
Sleep mentioned that ETFs from Credit Suisse are 0.05% cheaper in Brazil and India, but added that price competition in the ETF arena in general is hotting up.
He used the example of ETFs tracking the S&P 500 which used to exclusive to iShares and charged 0.40%. The S&P 500 then opened up to other ETF providers and since then charges have plummeted.
“Now the cheapest ETF tracking the S&P 500 has a 0.05% TER and we’ve had this dramatic drop in the last 18 months. There’s more and more price competition and that’s positive for investors.”
Amundi now has 41 London-listed ETF funds, all of which have UK reporting status.
