JP Morgan Adds To BetaBuilders ETFs

J.P. Morgan took everyone by surprise when it launched a trio of plain-vanilla ETFs in June, with the JPMorgan BetaBuilders Japan ETF (BBJP) quickly became the fastest-growing ETF of 2018, pulling in nearly $2 billion in less than two months. Today the firm is adding to that beta lineup with the launch of the JPMorgan BetaBuilders Developed Asia-ex Japan ETF (BBAX) and the JPMorgan BetaBuilders Canada ETF (BBCA).

Both come with expense ratios of 0.19% and list on the Cboe BZX Exchange. Cboe Global Markets is the parent company of ETF.com.

BBAX covers the markets of Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Singapore. Its largest and most direct competitor is the $2.4 billion plain-vanilla iShares MSCI Pacific ex-Japan ETF (EPP), which has an expense ratio of 0.49%, more than twice the cost of BBAX.

Meanwhile, BBCA is undercut by the plain-vanilla Franklin FTSE Canada ETF (FLCA), which costs just 9 basis points. However, it is still the second-cheapest fund in the space, and costs far less than the dominant fund covering Canada, the $3 billion iShares MSCI Canada ETF (EWC), which costs 49 basis points.

Jillian DelSignore, J.P. Morgan’s head of ETF distribution, said that when the firm launched the first three BetaBuilders funds, the ETFs were being developed based on customer demand. Given the growth of BBJP, the demand was clearly there. More than $450 million is invested in the other two ETFs that were launched alongside BBJP, the JPMorgan BetaBuilders Europe ETF (BBEU) and the JPMorgan BetaBuilders MSCI U.S. REIT ETF (BBRE).

Both funds track Morningstar indexes weighted by free-float market capitalization.

Contact Heather Bell at [email protected]