Franklin Templeton expands passive ETF suite

Feb 12th, 2018 | By | Category: Equities

Franklin Templeton Investments has added four new ETFs to its line-up of passively managed country and regional funds, introducing exposures to equities listed in India, Russia, Asia Pacific ex-Japan, and Switzerland.

Patrick O’Connor, global head of ETFs at Franklin Templeton Investments.

Patrick O’Connor, global head of ETFs at Franklin Templeton Investments.

The new launches bring the number of funds within the suite to 20 with the original 16 having been rolled out in October 2017.

The ETFs have been listed on NYSE Arca and are in line with the pricing policy of the other funds in the range – those that offer exposure to developed countries have expense ratios of 0.09%, while those targeting emerging markets cost 0.19%. This pricing strategy makes the ETFs within the suite among the lowest in the industry for their respective categories.

“Our suite of passive country- and region-specific ETFs has been well received in the marketplace, as clients look for low-cost vehicles that can be used to access different exposures for their portfolios or solutions capabilities,” said Patrick O’Connor, head of global ETFs at Franklin Templeton Investments. “We think beta should be cheap, and these passive ETFs are priced close to—if not the— lowest in their category. These new ETFs further expand the options available to investors through Franklin LibertyShares, which now offers a total of 33 ETFs to US investors, across active, smart beta and passive strategies.”

The newly launched ETFs, along with their ticker codes, are outlined below. The India, Russia, and Asia Pacific ex-Japan funds have expense ratios of 0.19%, while the Switzerland fund costs 0.09%.

Franklin FTSE India ETF (FLIN US).
Franklin FTSE Russia ETF (FLRU US).
Franklin FTSE Asia ex Japan ETF (FLAX US).
Franklin FTSE Switzerland ETF (FLSW).

Like the existing passive ETFs, the new ETFs are market cap-weighted and benchmarked to country and regional indices from FTSE Russell, leveraging the global index provider’s capabilities and expertise across developed and emerging markets.

The list of other funds in Franklin Templeton’s line-up of passive single-country and regional ETFs is reproduced below:

Developed market funds
Franklin FTSE Australia ETF (FLAU US)
Franklin FTSE Canada ETF (FLCA US)
Franklin FTSE Europe ETF (FLEE US)
Franklin FTSE Europe Hedged ETF (FLEH US)
Franklin FTSE France ETF (FLFR US)
Franklin FTSE Germany ETF (FLGR US)
Franklin FTSE Hong Kong ETF (FLHK US)
Franklin FTSE Italy ETF (FLIY US)
Franklin FTSE Japan ETF (FLJP US)
Franklin FTSE Japan Hedged ETF (FLJH US)
Franklin FTSE United Kingdom ETF (FLGB US)
Franklin FTSE South Korea ETF (FLKR US)

Emerging market funds
Franklin FTSE Brazil ETF (FLBR US)
Franklin FTSE China ETF (FLCH US)
Franklin FTSE Mexico ETF (FLMX US)
Franklin FTSE Taiwan ETF (FLTW US)

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