Funds difference for 2 ETFs same ISIN

Pat38493

Hi - can someone explain to me what is the difference between the funds below:

IE00BDZZTM54.
IE00BDZZTM54


One of them has GBP in the description and the other has USD, but they both say USD on Morningstar and they both say hedging is "non specific".  Also for one of them the performance data before this year is missing even though it claims it was opened in 2017.  Where the performance data can be compared it's very similar but not identical.

Does this mean one is hedged to GBP, or maybe it means one is valued in GBP and I need to get that one to avoid potential FX fees if I want to invest in it?  Or if not what?

leosayer

ISINs don't have dots, commas or any other special characters - they're alpha numeric.

Pat38493

leosayer said:

ISINs don't have dots, commas or any other special characters - they're alpha numeric.

The dot was just a full stop that shouldn't be there - on Morningstar if you search on this ISIN number, you get about 4 or 5 separate funds which appear to be the same underlying ETF but with a different currency mentioned in the name of the fund.  A lot of the data is also the same for all of them e.g. "inception date".

I am trying to understand what the difference is between them and whether I should choose the GBP or USD one if I want to invest in this fund without hedging.

EdSwippet

IE00BDZZTM54 is a single fund with multiple exchange listings. As a UK investor, the one you'll almost certainly want is SUWG, traded on the LSE in GBP. The only reason you might want to use SUWS instead is if you happen to already hold USD, in which case you can save one forex trip.

You'll see a difference in performance if you view things in different currencies, because what you see when you do that is a combination of the performance of the assets the ETF holds and the changes in forex between the currency of those assets and the currency you're choosing to view performance in. Again, as a UK investor you're really only interested in performance measured in GBP, because that's what you'll receive and spend later.

This ETF is not hedged to any currency. The fund's base currency is USD, but this is largely immaterial to you, since this is really just an accounting yardstick to measure performance over time. It could use anything -- USD, EUR, BGN, or even Mars bars for all the difference it makes to you. The one time it can matter is where an ETF pays dividends in its base currency, and this is not your own home currency. In that case, you'd end up converting some USD to GBP (or the platform will do that seamlessly, since you cannot hold foreign currencies in an ISA), meaning that you then usually have to convert that back to GBP to spend it, or perhaps to reinvest it.

Pat38493

EdSwippet said:

IE00BDZZTM54 is a single fund with multiple exchange listings. As a UK investor, the one you'll almost certainly want is SUWG, traded on the LSE in GBP. The only reason you might want to use SUWS instead is if you happen to already hold USD, in which case you can save one forex trip.

You'll see a difference in performance if you view things in different currencies, because what you see when you do that is a combination of the performance of the assets the ETF holds and the changes in forex between the currency of those assets and the currency you're choosing to view performance in. Again, as a UK investor you're really only interested in performance measured in GBP, because that's what you'll receive and spend later.

This ETF is not hedged to any currency. The fund's base currency is USD, but this is largely immaterial to you, since this is really just an accounting yardstick to measure performance over time. It could use anything -- USD, EUR, BGN, or even Mars bars for all the difference it makes to you. The one time it can matter is where an ETF pays dividends in its base currency, and this is not your own home currency. In that case, you'd end up converting some USD to GBP (or the platform will do that seamlessly, since you cannot hold foreign currencies in an ISA), meaning that you then usually have to convert that back to GBP to spend it, or perhaps to reinvest it.

Thanks that is most helpful - on Interactive investor both SUWG and SUWS are listed as available so I guess I will pick SUWG