Thanks for sharing…
For a second , I thought they reduced price for IMID which is tracking ACWI IMI.
But still reduction in ACWI is also good. I can now buy ACWI instead of SSAC 
hopefully the spread at SIX is not too bad
When will Vanguard follow for VWRL/VWCE?
Does anyone know why VWRL is traded at SIX but VWCE/VWRA is not?
Swiss markets will prefer distributing funds, easier to handle tax wise and market is probably not big enough to warrant another redundant offer.
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I think unless they feel they are going to lose market share, they would delay as long as possible. It is simply a loss for them as they have billions of EUR already in fund.
On the other hand, the growth of fund should also enable them to reduce the cost.
Updated table with ACWI
| Ticker | Index | TER | Large/mid caps (DM) | Small Caps (DM) | Large/mid caps (EM) | Small Caps (EM) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IMID/SPYI | MSCI ACWI IMI | 0.17% | X | X | X | X |
| VWRL | FTSE ALL WORLD | 0.22% | X | X | ||
| FWRA | FTSE ALL WORLD | 0.15% | X | X | ||
| VEVE | FTSE DEV WORLD | 0.12% | X | |||
| VFEM | FTSE EM | 0.22% | X | |||
| SSAC | MSCI ACWI | 0.20% | X | X | ||
| ACWI | MSCI ACWI | 0.12% | X | X | ||
| SWRD | MSCI World | 0.12% | X | |||
| IUSN/WSML | MSCI World Small Cap | 0.35% | X | |||
| EIMU | MSCI EM | 0.18% | X | X | ||
| IEMS | MSCI EM Small Cap | 0.74% | ||||
| HESC | MSCI EM Small Cap ESG | 0.35% | X | |||
| WEBG | Solactive GBS Global Markets | 0.07% | X | X | ||
| DM = developed markets | ||||||
| EM = Emerging markets | ||||||
| FTSE All world -: represents 90% of total market | ||||||
| MSCI ACWI -: represents 85% of total market | ||||||
| MSCI ACWI IMI -: represents 99% of total market | ||||||
| Solactive GBS Global -: represents 85% of total market |
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In addition to above ETFs, UK Investors have the possibility to invest in Index Mutual Funds.
The two additional options are:
Vanguard FTSE Global All Cap Index Fund (TER 0.23% and domiciled in the UK)
HSBC FTSE All-World Index Fund – Class C (TER 0.13% and domiciled in the UK)
Anyone wants to take a look?
As many of you may already know, Vanguard has the most Global ETF in terms of TER… stats comparison below… (credit from: http://www.bankeronwheels.com/)
Vanguard FTSE All-World (0.22%)
iShares ACWI ETF (0.20%)
SPDR ACWI ETF (0.12%)
SPDR ACWI IMI ETF (0.17%)
Amundi Prime All Country ETF (0.07%)
What do you guys plan to do in the medium-long term? Will you slowly shift away from Vanguard to other (almost identical) products, if their TER does not go down? Which one?
Original discussion: https://www.reddit.com/r/eupersonalfinance/comments/1epreru/vanguard_ftse_etf_is_now_the_most_expensive_fund/
Vanguard has become lazy, in Europe at least. FWRA (Invesco FTSE All-World) outperformed the index, even including TER of 0.15%.
Switching ETFs is quick and cheap with IBKR, I don’t know why people stick with worse-performing ETFs.
If you live in a country that doesn’t tax capital gains.
Forgot about that, thanks…
…Switzerland really is the best country, isn’t it?
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There is lots of relevant information in the previous thread on this topic:
This is a web site that tracks tracking differences for European ETFs, to look beyond TER.
One reason (besides withholding taxes for different fund domiciles) why costs are not equal to TER is the fact that funds might be engaged in securities lending, with more or less success.
I am still debating if I need small caps or not .
If I don’t need small caps then WEBG or ACWI would be my choice
If I need small caps then SPYI / IMID
I never really used VWRL because I was using SSAC. But now we have better options. And last point, I don’t really plan to close any old positions.
There would always be a cheaper ETF how long can I keep closing positions. I generally focus on future investments when talking about change
P.S -: I don’t personally worry about underlying index. FTSE, MSCI and Solactive, all are trying to have a diversified portfolio with market cap as key variable. In long term, the main objective is to have diversified portfolio and all of them serve that purpose
Buy an ETF based on FTSE All-World, you’ll have the upper range of small caps, a good compromise 
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I’m confident Vanguard will lower its pricing in the next 3 years. I therefore don’t really see a need to change to another ETF for existing positions. As mentioned, there’s always a new and cheaper ETF around the block, but forever changing and chopping around with your portfolio will also drive up transaction costs.
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I think BoW published an article lately, stating there’s no economic incentive for Vanguard to lower it’s TER costs.
The author made a pretty good argument that the current fund is a passive ‘cash cow’ for Vanguard, as investors are not likely to sell their positions in large quantities any time soon.
Therefore lowering fees makes absolutely no sense at all, if the end-goal is to generate passive income to fund other business operations.
Depends on how much inflows they would otherwise capture from competitors.
Totally agree
This is the challenge of incumbent. Price reduction is valid for all and would never result in market share gain to compensate because let’s be honest Vanguard is already a large ETF and tough to gain more.
They will keep up the price until they really have no other option left. They know very well lot of countries apply capital gains tax so it’s a barrier for many to sell
Switzerland is different due to capital gains tax waiver for equities.
I couldn’t get my head around small cap + value. Just couldn’t. I get that they are two Factors which should up risk-adjusted return, however my sticking points were that:
- you track the growth of small cap value companies and when it’s no longer a small cap OR value it gets dropped from the ETF…so a company on the up and up is dropped?!
- potential for LONG underperformance before the Factors’ risk premia show up as returns
- it’s active management, and not one that makes intuitive sense to me, like a dividend growth one does
- specific funds are expensive
In the end, I picked VWRL as it’s a tad more diversified, however the actual impact of that diversification will likely be completely immaterial other than feeling like the good kid in class 
Hmmm to this, I have the feeling, but haven’t found data, that both SSAC and VWRL have more than doubled their AUM in the last 24 months that I’m following them.
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Just to be clear . I don’t really mean overweighting of Small cap or value.
I just meant small caps typically have 10-15% of global market cap. And some ETFs don’t invest in those companies completely.
And I generally like the whole market including all caps. But debating it’s worth the hassle and I should do following
- WEBG and chill when picking UCITS
- VT and chill when picking US ETFs
Remember market is also going up in last two years. So need to differentiate between AUM increase due to net inflows or simply growth
I am talking about market share gain potential