Update: db x-trackers MSCI Emerging Markets Index UCITS ETF

Correlations to developed equity exposure have slightly decreased in recent years, suggesting the fund provides more diversification benefit than previously. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index showed a correlation to the USD-currency returns of the MSCI Europe of 73% over the last five years, versus 80% over the last 15 years, while it showed a correlation to the broader MSCI World Index of 78% over the last five years, versus 82% over the last 15 years.

Fundamentale Analyse

Emerging-markets stocks first became an appealing asset class in the 2000s, thanks to the confluence of several factors. For one, the Chinese economic growth machine was operating at full speed. Annual GDP growth rates approached 10% as a result of national economic reforms, strong export growth and significant investment in factories, infrastructure and housing.

At the same time, low interest rates throughout the developed world helped drive investment in emerging markets. And thanks to China's capital investment spree, commodity prices skyrocketed, benefiting resource-rich countries such as Brazil, Russia, South Africa and Indonesia.

But much of the momentum has since disappeared, and most emerging markets countries have settled into a period of slower GDP growth. China, which is undergoing a transition from an investment- to consumption-driven economy, is already facing related growing pains and has a significantly lower GDP growth rate target of 7.0% for 2015. More broadly, foreign fund flows have grown more volatile and have helped expose countries with relatively weaker fundamentals, causing higher currency and local stock market volatility.

Indexkonstruktion

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index is a free-float market capitalisation-weighted index covering about 20 emerging market countries around the world. It covers approximately 85% of the free float-adjusted market capitalisation of the component markets. The index has about 800 constituents and is reviewed quarterly, with size cut-offs recalculated semi-annually. The universe is initially screened for liquidity, as measured by the value and frequency of trading. The median constituent has a market capitalisation of $2.3 billion. The top geographic exposures are China (18-22% weighting) and South Korea (14-17%) followed by Taiwan (10-14%) and South Africa and Brazil (6-10%). On a sector basis the index is broadly diversified, with a bias towards financials, which makes up about 25-30% of the total. The second largest sector represented is information technology (16-20%), followed by consumer discretionary (7-10%) and consumer discretionary and energy (7-10% each). The index is not very concentrated at the stock level, with typically 16-18% in the top 10 names. The top position is Samsung Electronics Co., with a 2-4% weighting, followed by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing and Tencent (1-3% each).

Fondskonstruktion 

The fund uses synthetic replication to provide exposure to the underlying benchmark, entering a fully-funded swap with parent company Deutsche Bank. Investors’ cash is transferred to Deutsche Bank, which then puts collateral in a segregated account opened in the name of Deutsche Bank and pledged to the fund. The collateral is marked to market daily and its composition can change every day. It mainly consists of U.S., European and Japanese equities from a variety of industries. As of the end of August 2014, its total value was equivalent to 120% of the fund’s net asset value. In compliance with UCITS III rules, the fund’s net counterparty exposure cannot exceed 10% of the fund’s NAV, implying that the collateral must at a minimum be valued at 90% of the fund’s net assets. Collateral will be held and managed by Bank of New York Mellon (Luxembourg). In the case of an enforcement event—which could be any of a number of a wide range of actual and/or potential default or termination events on the part of Deutsche Bank—the fund will be entitled by Luxembourg law at that time to enforce the pledge and sell the collateral assets without giving prior notice to Deutsche Bank. Under the terms of the swap, the counterparty agrees to provide the fund with exposure to the total return of the underlying index, net of any associated taxes, costs or fees. The return from the swap assumes that all dividends paid by the underlying stocks are reinvested in the index. This fund does not pay out any dividend distributions.

Gebühren

The fund’s total expense ratio (TER) is 0.65%, which is at the higher end of funds offering similar exposure. However, the TER may be increased by swap transaction costs which db X-trackers estimates to be around 0.20% per annum. The fund’s estimated holding cost, as measured by the tracking difference, is therefore 0.85% per annum, according to the company website. Investors should bear in mind that the realised tracking difference may be different from this estimate. Other costs potentially borne by the unitholder but not included in the TER include swap fees, and bid-ask spreads and brokerage fees when buy and sell orders are placed for ETF shares.

Alternativen 

For broad exposure to emerging markets there are many choices out there. Providers that offer ETFs tracking the MSCI Emerging Markets Index include UBS, Amundi, SPDR, ComStage, Lyxor, Source, iShares and HSBC. The cheapest of all (strictly in terms of TER) is the Amundi ETF MSCI Emerging Markets, with a TER of 0.20%. Its tracking difference over the last few years has ranged from 0.21 to 1.22% suggesting it has typically had a lower holding cost than this iShares fund, whose tracking difference has ranged from 0.65% to 1.37%. For an accumulating fund alternative, iShares also offers the iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets IMI ETF, which tracks a different index, charges the competitive TER of 0.25%.

The Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF also charges the lowest TER, at 0.25%, but the fund tracks a different benchmark which excludes exposure to South Korea.

For alternatives to market capitalisation-weighted exposures, there are the Ossiam ETF Emerging Markets Minimum Variance, the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Minimum Volatility UCITS ETF and the PowerShares FTSE RAFI Emerging Markets ETF. While the first two funds follow a risk-oriented strategy, the third one employs a fundamental approach. These ETFs tend to offer different sector and country exposures than the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, so performance drivers will likely differ.