Franklin Templeton expands its range of passive funds with the launch of the Franklin FTSE Japan UCITS ETF, the first ETF to track the Japan index. According to the manager, this brings the number of indexed funds offered to investors to 22.
The Franklin FTSE Japan UCITS ETF invests in large and mid-cap stocks in Japan. It is passively managed and tracks the performance of the FTSE Japan Index – NR (Net Return), a market-capitalization-weighted index representing the performance of large and mid-sized companies in Japan, aiming to capture 90% of the investable Japanese equity market universe.
“We are pleased to offer this new single-country index-tracking UCITS ETF that invests in Japanese equities to European investors. Investors can now gain diversified exposure to over 500 Japanese companies across a wide range of industries. The Japanese stock market is the second-largest stock market in the Asia-Pacific region and the largest developed market in the region. After decades of deflationary trends, Japan’s central bank recently stated that it sees a virtuous cycle between wages and prices intensifying, which should help boost consumption and investments. The country’s strong position in the global technology supply chain, including semiconductors, along with a renewed focus on corporate governance and shareholder value, should also favor the domestic stock market,” highlighted Caroline Baron, Head of ETF Distribution for EMEA at Franklin Templeton.
The new ETF will provide European investors with cost-effective and UCITS-compliant exposure to Japanese stocks, with one of the lowest total expense ratios (TER) in Europe for its category, at 0.09%. It will be managed by Dina Ting, Head of Global Index Portfolio Management, and Lorenzo Crosato, ETF Portfolio Manager at Franklin Templeton, who have more than three decades of combined experience in the asset management industry and extensive track records in managing ETF strategies.
According to Matthew Harrison, Head of Americas (excluding the US), Europe, and the UK at Franklin Templeton, following the launch of the Franklin FTSE Developed World UCITS ETF a few weeks ago, the manager is expanding its offering of core index-tracking equity products with the launch of this new low-cost FTSE Japan ETF. “With a market capitalization of $6 trillion and Japanese market returns expected to recover, Japanese equities can be a core portfolio building option for an investor’s portfolio,” highlights Harrison.
The Franklin FTSE Japan UCITS ETF will be listed on Deutsche Börse Xetra (XETRA) on July 30, 2024, on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and Euronext Amsterdam on July 31, 2024, and on Borsa Italiana on September 4, 2024. The fund is registered in Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
