Did anyone do a comparison of ETFs on European markets recently, like in the last 2-3 years? This in the spirit of “splitting the world” for decimal place kind of optimization for a multi-ETF portfolio.
Last time I looked around, I considered the usual subjects like iShares Core MSCI Europe (IMEA, IMEU) and Vanguard FTSE Developed Europe (VWCG, VEUR) and settled on Vanguard.
I do review my portfolio periodically to decide whether there are any new and better options.
What I didn’t have on the radar is Xtrackers Stoxx Europe 600 (XSX7), which only has limited data since inception 2023, but an acceptable 1 bn in AUM and a TER of 0.07%. Similar would be Amundi Core Stoxx Europe 600 (LYP6), with 19 bn AUM since 2013, but it’s seems only available accumulating.
Their homepages or JustETF don’t display those right away due to “missing marketing distribution rights”.
My working assumptions are
Indices like Stoxx Europe 600, FTSE dev. Europe or MSCI Europe are on an equal footing and cover more or less the same:
FTSE and Stoxx consider Poland as developed, and FTSE will soon add Greece. So there’d be some overlap with a MSCI Emerging Markets ETF if you have one, but I’d consider that neglectable. Same on whether there are 500 or 600 companies included, but there are style points for broad market coverage.
Therefore, while Euro Stoxx 50 is widely and cheaply available, and performed better in recent years, it’s not considered
Perfect would be an Europe ex. CH, but I have only found few funds, no ETF
This is not about UCITS or US-domicile, but given the limited offering on the US side, a comparison is limited. Maybe with Vanguard US’s dev. Europe VGK, which has lower TER than it’s IE counterpart VEUR, yet seems to perform slightly worse. The assumption is hence that IE, LU or DE are similar from a CH perspective and have minimally better tax treaties or other factors than the US, so UCITS it is.
In short: What’s your best ETF for European markets, only?
Any ex-CH variant or other relevant points you consider for the normal portfolio, not 3a or VB?
Their homepages or JustETF don’t display those right away due to “missing marketing distribution rights”.
JustETF just seems to me to miss a lot of good ETFs, at least these days, so I always include in my research a search on my broker’s platform. I don’t have the time to do a real search but at first glance, Saxo gives me a few additional options that might be worth considering (from UBS and State Street, among others).
I have too many criteria myself to select for the best ETF and mostly have to settle for “close enough to good enough” but for what it’s worth, I had settled on EUREUA for its availability on SIX and margin requirements when I was with IBKR:
UBS Core MSCI Europe UCITS ETF
EUR acc: LU0950668524 (AUM 500M)
EUR dis: LU0446734104 (AUM 1.5B)
TER 0.06%
I mainly use a fund from UBS on Swissquote. It’s Europe_ex_CH. UBS (CH) Investment Fund – Equities Europe Passive, isin CH0356496742. I think Amundi used to have an ETF like that but most likely was not popular amongst Europeans. It makes sense because such construct will only be interesting for Swiss residents
Other than that you will mainly find full Europe ETFs.
EUREUA (ticker on SIX) or UIMA is decent product too. This is the one on @Wolverine list. I use it when I want full Europe product.
Note -: If I understand correctly any product based outside of Switzerland which collects Swiss dividends might lose some WHT tax which would be unrecoverable. Thus Eur_ex_CH might be best construct with separate SPI exposure. But I am not sure 100%
Thanks a lot. UBS Core looks like a strong contender, as well. Not sure why I missed that. Funny enough, IB shows me the distributing one (which is just fine for me), but not the accumulating one under UIMA nor ISIN.
What I don’t get is that the tracking difference is less stable year by year than other ETFs. On average, there seems not too much difference, so either seems good enough.
Not sure whether Justetf is missing ETF, I assumed it filters those out based on geography. xtracker for example didn’t show theirs either on their homepage when I dutifully declared as Swiss investor.
Correct, that’s my understanding. CH stand-alone is easily available and it would let you recover the 35% WHT privately. Or avoid taxation altogether by concentrating it in 3a or VB. Plus, any home bias would be easier to track and not mixed up with Europe.
I did find that discontinued, small Amundi ETF. Discontinued, or merged into some ESG variants.
The UBS fund looks interesting, but I can’t find it at my broker. Could be me, but it’s probably rather them not really covering CH funds.
Which class do you get at Swissquote? Or rather: what’s the entry, exit and running fees (if any)? Not sure I’d add a broker and funds to ETF portfolio, but who knows.
One way to have exposure to a broader european mix while avoiding CH are Eurozone indexes. They can be complemented by individual countries indexes for the markets one would not want to miss. Euro Stoxx 50 is such a one, though I don’t like that it’s limited to only 50 stocks.
Could have been turned into their “Amundi MSCI Europe ex Switzerland ESG Broad Transition UCITS ETF Acc” currently available through Saxo.
ISIN: LU1681044308
There again, not a neutral, passive, Europe ex CH fund.
Interesting thread, I also own this one to represent my Home Bias (+ I owned VTI).
I like also appreciate that VEUR as a physical replication and own the shares (no swap).
At my last review, I ruled those out, but it’s a tough call. Would solve the CH problem, and UK could be added easily, even had one few years back. But that’s yet another small position and currency to be added. Scandinavia is even smaller and less available, so it comes down to more gaps or (too) much complexity.. So far, my “grey zone” has been 2-3% global regions like UK, CA or APAC ex. Japan.
Agree with you on Stoxx 50, too limited if the premise is at least 85-90% broad coverage.
That’s not too bad. Far better than the max. 3% for each set as maximum in the documents.
Broker’s fees won’t really matter, I’m not trading that stuff daily or even monthly.
For Europe only, I’d consider a rounded 3% div * 15% CH share * 35% WHT = 0.15%. Ok, minus income tax, but significant enough to have a look, especially if Europe is slightly overweight in total portfolio.
I’m not so sure. I might mix this up with LU - US, but remember from treaty it’s not 100% clear that ETF could and would claim for the reduced 15%. When I checked two UBS ETFs with CH and LU, they had 0.7% different at same TER. Not the best source, but this finpension article does and indicates the same, even 1% annual delta.
Could you please describe your mutual fund trading experience at Swissquote?
I wonder if this description from @jay is still valid today: Traditional index funds in Switzerland
UBS has large ex-CH mutual funds:
Fund Name
ISIN
Currency
Morningstar Rating
UBS (CH) Investment Fund - Equities World ex CH Climate Aware NSL U-X-acc
CH0461918887
CHF
****
UBS (Lux) Institutional Fund - Equities Europe (ex UK ex Switzerland) Passive II U-X-acc
LU2250202996
CHF
****
UBS (Lux) Institutional Fund - Equities Europe (ex UK ex Switzerland) Passive U-X-acc
It seems the issue isn’t the DTA itself, but whether CH assumes the LU funds to be covered by it. Apparently, the answer is no, consistent with this summary fo from a LU perspective:
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