Note: The information contained here is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice or recommendations.
The short answer to this question is: To make Gerd Kommer's world portfolio concept easily accessible to every do-it-yourself investor in a single stock ETF.
The slightly longer answer to the question is: Dr. Gerd Kommer has been writing books on the subject of scientifically oriented investments with index funds and ETFs since 1999. With the founding of the Asset management in 2017 and the Robo advisor strategy - digital asset management - in 2020 he has already provided investors who do not want to take care of their investments themselves with two well-established tools for implementing the world portfolio concept popularized in his books. With the new ETF, we are making this investment approach accessible to investors who want to invest on their own and at the same time are looking for solutions that make their “investment work” easier.
The Gerd Kommer ETF is a pure stock ETF that represents the risky portfolio part of the global portfolio concept in a single fund (“1-ETF solution”) and thereby brings so-called factor premiums into the portfolio (more on this under “Factor investing" below). "Risk-prone portfolio part" here means "global stock market". In our opinion, anyone who wants to invest in the form of a return-oriented “100/0 level 1 asset allocation” (100% risky/0% low risk) does not need any other ETF besides the Gerd Kommer ETF.
If you want to be more conservative (safety-oriented) on the road - e.g. B. with a "Level 1 asset allocation" (percentage division of a portfolio into a risky part, which is responsible for generating returns in the portfolio, and a low-risk part, which serves as a security anchor in the overall portfolio) from "90/10", "80/20", "70/30" and so on up to "10/90" - you can consider using the Gerd Kommer ETF with either one Combine a bond ETF or cover the low-risk part of the portfolio with interest-bearing overnight money at a bank (see here our blog post on overnight funds and bond ETFs). The bond ETF used should only cover short remaining terms of debtors with a high credit rating in the investor's home currency. For risk reasons, the balance in the current account should not exceed 100,000 euros, the upper limit of the state deposit insurance in Germany.
The L&G Gerd Kommer Multifactor Equity UCITS ETF (“ETF”) is managed by Legal & General Investment Management Limited (“L&G”) and physically replicates the Gerd Kommer Multifactor Equity Index (not a swap ETF). The index that the ETF tracks is calculated by Solactive AG (“Solactive”) and was developed in 2022/2023 by Gerd Kommer Invest GmbH (“GKI”), L&G and Solactive.
There are no corporate legal connections between GKI, L&G and Solactive, i.e. h. the shareholders of GKI, L&G and Solactive do not hold shares in the other two companies.
L&G is the legal operator of the ETF and is responsible for B2B marketing. Solactive is responsible for the ongoing maintenance, calculation and administration of the index underlying the ETF. GKI is responsible for B2C marketing in the private investor market and fundamental questions of investment strategy.
The ETF's income, minus costs, is split between GKI and L&G.
The Gerd Kommer ETF is provided by the ETF provider Legal & General Investment Management (“L&G”) managed. L&G is the asset manager of the British Legal & General group, one of the largest insurance companies in Europe. Legal & General was founded in 1836 and is listed on the FTSE 100 of the London Stock Exchange.
L&G is one of the world's leading asset managers. As of December 2024, the L&G assets under management are worth around 1,350 billion euros.
Dr. Gerd Kommer is the founder and managing director of an asset management company, Gerd Kommer Invest GmbH (“GKI”).
Before founding Gerd Kommer Invest in 2017, Gerd Kommer worked for around 24 years in the corporate lending business and institutional asset management of various banks in Germany, South Africa and Great Britain. Most recently, he headed the London branch and the Infrastructure & Asset Finance division of a German asset management company until the end of 2016. In this position, he was responsible for a portfolio of structured loans and bonds with a volume of 16 billion euros. He spent a total of 17 years in European and non-European countries.
Gerd Kommer studied business administration, tax law, German and political science in Germany, the USA and Liechtenstein (M.A., MBA, Dr. rer. pol., LL.M.).
Dr. Gerd Kommer is also a well-known author in German-speaking countries and has published several financial advice books that have sold a total of more than 300,000 copies to date. His book Invest confidently with index funds and ETFs won the German Financial Book Prize in 2016.
Gerd Kommer Invest GmbH (“GKI”) is a BaFin-regulated asset manager based in Munich. The company was founded in 2017 by Dr. Gerd Kommer founded.
GKI follows a strictly scientific and evidence-based investment approach. At no point are any forecasts made about security prices or the development of macroeconomic variables (e.g. interest rates or inflation), while investing on the basis of such forecasts remains the standard in the financial industry.
Furthermore, GKI fanatically strives to avoid conflicts of interest, which we see as a “plague of the financial industry” and as the cause of many scandals and bankruptcies in the financial industry in recent decades.
As part of its asset management and financial advice, GKI has several hundred customers and manages assets worth around one billion euros (as of 2026).
More information about Gerd Kommer Invest asset management.
Solactive AG is a German index provider based in Frankfurt. Solactive is responsible for the ongoing maintenance, calculation and administration of the index underlying the ETF. There are currently (as of mid-2025) over 700 ETFs worldwide that are linked to the indices calculated by Solactive. Solactive is known for focusing on creating customized indices.
The underlying index is the Solactive Gerd Kommer Multifactor Equity Index NTR (DE000SL0G219). As is usual with ETFs, it is a net total return index. This means that dividends are taken into account against a price index. The “Net” stands for the maximum deduction of withholding taxes on dividends. If the withholding tax deduction is lower in the ETF, this fully benefits the ETF assets and thus the investors. The index is denominated in USD.
We have a detailed one on this ETF comparison page set up, which particularly addresses the differences between the Gerd Kommer ETF and its alternatives, including ETFs based on the well-known MSCI World index. This offers a further comparison of different indices Quarterly Index Summary.
Most ETFs registered in German-speaking countries are domiciled in Germany, Luxembourg or Ireland. However, Ireland currently (as of 2025) has an advantage when it comes to taxing dividends, especially from US companies. This advantage fully benefits investors. The tax treatment can fundamentally change. If there are advantages, these will be passed on to investors.
With the Gerd Kommer ETF, the Gerd Kommer Group would like to offer a user-friendly product for the first time for those do-it-yourself investors who have not yet found what they are looking for in the “Gerd Kommer universe”, for example because it is important for them to invest on their own. It is a globally diversified stock ETF, i.e. a fund without an admixture of high-risk or low-risk bonds. Users of the ETF who wish to invest more conservatively than “100/0” (risky/low-risk) must supplement the ETF with an additional low-risk investment component, such as a specific low-risk bond ETF. The ETF was developed as a “one-fund solution” for do-it-yourself investors. The transaction costs and custody account management costs depend on the individual conditions of the customer's bank or broker. The end customer also bears the operational risk of implementing the transactions.
The Robo Advisor strategy (digital asset management) is a complete solution. It is available to natural persons with tax residency in Germany. To begin, you answer a few questions about your financial goals, your current financial situation, your capital market knowledge and experience, and your risk attitude. A portfolio tailored to your needs is then built from several specific individual funds. This modular approach, usually consisting of over ten individual funds, means that your specific circumstances and goals can be represented more individually. The initial process also includes opening the account, which is paperless, lean and quick.
The service offering of the Robo Advisor strategy includes, among other things, appropriate ongoing product selection and ongoing rebalancing. With just a few clicks you can adjust the different risk classes in the app (iOS or Android) or in the browser, make deposits or withdrawals and set up a savings plan or withdrawal plan. The resulting transaction costs are part of the all-in fee and are not charged additionally; The portfolio management costs are also included. You can also take a detailed look at your portfolio in the apps. Customer service is also available and can be reached by email and telephone.
No, the price of an ETF share is initially around €10 (subject to market fluctuations) and savings plans are possible from as little as €1, depending on the broker.
The Gerd Kommer ETF is available from most banks and online brokers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In order to buy the Gerd Kommer ETF, you must have a depot and enter the WKN “WELT0A” (or ISIN: IE0001UQQ933) for the accumulating variant or “WELT0B” (or ISIN: IE000FPWSL69) for the distributing variant in the search mask. In most cases it should be enough to type “Gerd Kommer”. The ETF is then stored in the depot, similar to valuables in a bank safe deposit box.
Yes, the Gerd Kommer ETF is registered in the following countries in addition to Germany: Great Britain, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Austria, Luxembourg, Spain, Switzerland and Ireland. In some countries a purchase is possible anyway, even if the ETF is not registered there. In principle, a product can also be purchased from other countries via the relevant stock exchange. Please consult your tax advisor regarding possible tax implications. A complete overview of all countries in which the Gerd Kommer ETF is registered can be found in the Fund headquarters from L&G.
The Gerd Kommer ETF is available as a savings plan from most banks and brokers. For example, you will find an overview that is probably not complete here.
The bank or broker decides whether the ETF is offered as a savings plan. We only have limited influence on this. The greater the demand, the more likely it is that the ETF will also be eligible for savings plans at your institution. If it is not yet eligible for a savings plan, please write to your bank directly.
No.
The L&G Gerd Kommer Multifactor Equity UCITS ETF is available in both an accumulating version (WKN: WELT0A, ISIN: IE0001UQQ933) and a distributing version (WKN: WELT0B, ISIN: IE000FPWSL69). In the former, distributions (e.g. dividends) are automatically reinvested (accumulated), while in the latter, distributions are transferred quarterly directly to the investor's clearing account belonging to the securities account. Distributions are made in March, June, September and December.
The benchmark of the L&G Gerd Kommer Multifactor Equity UCITS ETF is the underlying Solactive Gerd Kommer Multifactor Equity Index NTR (ISIN: DE000SL0G219).
When comparing ETFs on, for example, the MSCI World Index, the MSCI ACWI or the FTSE All-World Index, it should be noted that the L&G Gerd Kommer Multifactor Equity UCITS ETF is based on a different investment strategy. The country weighting in the direction of economic performance, factor investing or the 1% cap alone can lead to greater deviations in performance compared to the indices mentioned, especially in the short and medium term.
We have a detailed one ETF comparison page set up, which particularly addresses the differences between the Gerd Kommer ETF and its alternatives.
It depends.
The L&G Gerd Kommer Multifactor Equity UCITS ETF was developed as a 1-ETF solution for the risky portfolio part of Gerd Kommer's world portfolio concept or generally as a 1-ETF solution for a broadly diversified global equity investment. In our opinion, if you want to invest in the form of a return-oriented “100/0 level 1 asset allocation” (100% risky/0% low risk), you do not need any other stock ETF besides the Gerd Kommer ETF.
If you want to be more conservative (safety-oriented) on the road - e.g. B. with a level 1 asset allocation of "90/10", "80/20", "70/30" etc. up to "10/90" - you can consider either combining the Gerd Kommer ETF with a bond ETF or covering the low-risk part of the portfolio with interest-bearing overnight money at a bank. In our view, the bond ETF used should only cover short remaining terms of debtors with a high credit rating in the investor's home currency. For risk reasons, the balance in the current account should not exceed 100,000 euros, the upper limit of the state deposit insurance in Germany.
More information about the low-risk portfolio part can be found here White paper by Gerd Kommer.
L&G is one of the pioneers when it comes to exercising voting rights and responsible use of capital. The voting rights are pooled across the entire active and passive business and spoken to a company with one voice. In particular, L&G sees companies as having responsibility in the areas of climate change, remuneration policy as well as the independence and diversity of the board of directors and other subject areas.
Further information on topics such as investment stewardship, policies and guidelines, voting disclosures and active shareholder ownership can be found here.
The Gerd Kommer ETF is available as a savings plan from most banks and brokers. The bank or broker decides whether the ETF is offered as a savings plan, i.e. h. we only have limited influence on this. The greater the demand, the more likely it is that the ETF will also be eligible for savings plans at your institution. So that your institute finds out about the demand, we ask you to write to customer service directly.
Yes, the ETF is available at most banks and brokers in Switzerland. If the ETF is not available from your provider, we ask you to inquire there first and then to inform the fund provider L&G about the reasons given for the unavailability moc.migl@dnalhcstued to communicate.
The listing on the Swiss SIX Swiss Exchange took place on August 15, 2023. The trading currency there is the CHF. The trading currency on the London Stock Exchange is the US dollar. Trading is also possible in euros via other exchanges (e.g. Xetra). The ETF is approved for distribution in Switzerland and Swiss tax reporting (ESTV reporting) is published.
Yes, the ETF is available from most banks and brokers in Austria. If the ETF is not available from your provider, we ask you to inquire there first and then to inform the fund provider L&G about the reasons given for the unavailability moc.migl@dnalhcstued to communicate.
The trading currency of the Gerd Kommer ETF on German stock exchanges is usually the euro. The trading currency on the SIX Swiss Exchange is the Swiss franc. The trading currency on the London Stock Exchange is the US dollar.
The ETF is approved for distribution in Austria and is a reporting fund.
First of all: The ETF is approved for distribution in Austria and is a reporting fund. This avoids unfavorable taxation in contrast to non-reporting funds.
The dividends received within the ETF are part of the so-called distribution-equivalent income for tax purposes. The factors taken into account and regional diversification mean that the dividend yield can be slightly higher than with a simple MSCI World index.
Another component of the distribution-equivalent income are realized price gains within the ETF, which can be realized through sales as part of the rule-based quarterly rebalancing. Transactions result, among other things, from the systematic implementation of factor strategies and the limitation of the weight of a share to 1%. For simple market capitalization-weighted indices such as the MSCI World, this internal capital turnover is generally lower.
Even if the distribution-equivalent income is not paid out to the investor but is reinvested in the fund, it is subject to ongoing taxation in Austria.
A central point that is often misunderstood: the tax paid in Austria on distribution-equivalent income is not lost when the ETF shares are later sold. It is credited for tax purposes. This is not an additional or double taxation, but rather an earlier payment of taxes. This advance of tax payment does not increase the overall tax burden, but only reduces the tax present value advantage.
This assessment may contain errors and does not constitute tax advice. Do not make any decisions based on this information, but rather consult your tax advisor.
No, the ETF is currently not available in the PEA and cannot be purchased via Euronext.
As is common with all exchange-traded products, placing an order as a limit order with a specified maximum (for purchases) or minimum (for sales) execution price can help to achieve the desired execution price. A trading venue with high liquidity or a comparison of offers in direct trading can also have an advantageous effect. We assume no liability for any damage that occurs when placing orders independently.
Additionally, the following may be useful:
Especially with larger buy orders, increased spreads or price fluctuations can occur in the short term if there is not enough liquidity available on the other side. Such deviations usually balance out quickly - through so-called arbitrage activities by professional market participants such as Authorized Participants (APs).
Market makers and APs play a central role in price setting: they balance buying and selling interest and continually place buying and selling prices in the order book. If an ETF price temporarily trades above the net asset value (NAV) - for example because a market maker no longer has any shares available - he can subscribe to new shares directly from the fund company (so-called creation). Conversely, shares can be returned if there are surplus shares (redemption). These mechanisms ensure that the ETF price remains close to the fund's intrinsic value.
In over-the-counter trading (OTC), the typical markup on the NAV for institutional transactions (e.g. order volume of EUR 1 million) is approximately +0.2% (as of April 2025). Private investors, on the other hand, usually trade on the stock exchange, where several market makers continuously provide competitive prices.
Important: We accept no liability for any losses incurred as a result of placing an order independently.
No, this is generally not possible with ETFs. Direct trading at the net asset value is reserved for institutional market participants, the so-called authorized participants.
ETFs are traded continuously every trading day, similar to stocks. As a result, the price may deviate slightly from the net asset value (keyword: spread). In order to minimize price deviations when buying or selling, it is recommended to use limit orders. This is how you set the maximum (for purchases) or minimum (for sales) price at which you want to trade. A liquid trading venue or a comparison of offers in direct trading can also help to achieve the desired execution price.
One advantage of exchange-traded funds over conventional funds can be seen at this very point: In ETFs, each investor bears the order costs (spreads) for themselves. In classic funds, transaction costs are borne by the entire fund assets - i.e. all investors in the fund.
Important: We accept no liability for any losses incurred as a result of placing an order independently.
Yes, the Gerd Kommer ETF, like the vast majority of all conventional funds and ETFs, can make use of securities lending to increase the overall return - of course taking into account strict risk controls and regulatory requirements. With the Gerd Kommer ETF, the share of securities lending is limited to a maximum of 20% of the fund assets.
Securities lending is a widespread, regulated practice in the capital markets in which an institutional investor - for example a fund - temporarily lends certain securities (e.g. stocks or bonds) to another market participant in return for compensation. In return, the lender receives a security deposit (deposit), usually in the form of liquid securities whose market value is above the value of the securities lent. This collateral is adjusted daily.
The securities lent must either be able to be returned at any time (“open loan”) or at the agreed time (“term loan”). During the loan period, voting rights and dividend payments are formally transferred to the borrower. However, the lender receives a compensatory payment that corresponds economically to the lost income.
Securities lending can be used as standard by most large funds to generate additional income. The resulting income usually benefits the fund assets - after deducting a small management fee - and thus improves the fund return. At the same time, the lender remains economically involved in the price development of the securities lent.
The practice contributes to the efficiency and liquidity of the capital markets and is now a professionally managed part of the investment process of many large fund providers.
Further information can be found in this blog post.
The level of income from securities lending depends on market factors such as demand, interest rates and the profile of the securities lent and cannot be guaranteed. The Gerd Kommer ETF is expected to generate a potential return in the low single-digit basis point range per year, i.e. in the range of 0.02% p.a. a. based on the fund NAV. The net proceeds flow into the fund assets and improve its overall return - without significantly increasing the investment risk.
A detailed description of the investment approach underlying the Gerd Kommer ETF can be found on our Features page and in White paper by Gerd Kommer.
There are numerous specific investment aspects that play a role in Gerd Kommer's investment approach Blog posts and YouTube videos.
The Books by Dr. Gerd Kommer explains and describes the investment approach in more detail.
Anyone who wants to understand the exact details of how the underlying index works should take a look at the Index methodology throw.
An overview of various key figures can be found in Quarterly Index Summary.
The Gerd Kommer ETF covers almost 50 countries (compared to a good 20 for an MSCI World ETF). The weighting of an individual country in the index is determined 50% by its market capitalization and 50% by the country's share of global gross domestic product (global economic output). In this way, for example, the cluster risk in the USA that exists in the MSCI World Index (as of mid-2025 around 70% weight for the USA) is mitigated. In return, emerging markets and the majority of non-US industrialized countries are weighted higher.
This Video on our YouTube channel goes into more detail about the differences in region weightings and this one Blog post on investing in emerging markets.
This provides a comparison of the weights of individual countries Quarterly Index Summary.
The trading currency of the Gerd Kommer ETF on German stock exchanges is usually the euro. The trading currency on the SIX Swiss Exchange is the Swiss franc. The trading currency on the London Stock Exchange is the US dollar.
In the blog post “Currency hedging: when does it make sense and when does it not?” by Gerd Kommer you can find out more about the economic significance of the so-called “fund currency” and generally about the issue of exchange rate risk or its hedging in an investor portfolio.
The USD is the fund currency (also called reporting currency) of the ETF. This is common for funds that invest internationally. The trading currency of the Gerd Kommer ETF on German stock exchanges is usually the euro. The trading currency on the SIX Swiss Exchange is the Swiss franc. The trading currency on the London Stock Exchange is the US dollar. The trading currency is the currency you need to purchase the shares in your account.
The concept of the “reporting currency” of a portfolio – in the case of funds, the so-called fund currency – has no relevance per se to the exchange rate risk of an investor in that portfolio or fund. This aspect of currency risk is often misunderstood by financial journalists and retail investors, and occasionally even by professionals. Let's look at the example of an ETF on the MSCI World Standard Index. Such ETFs are offered in Germany with both the fund currency dollars and the fund currency euros. The exchange rate risk for a German private investor whose home currency is the euro is exactly the same in the case of such an ETF with the reporting currency of the euro as with an ETF with the reporting currency of the dollar. The reporting currency is an arbitrarily chosen unit of account to express an economic substance that is fundamentally independent of it. Assume that the MSCI World Index returns 5% in USD in a given calendar year. In the same year, the EUR appreciated by 5% against the USD. Investor Franz and Sissi, who live in Vienna (their functional currency is the euro), have invested in two MSCI World ETFs. Franz (he owns ETF A) has the fund currency USD and Sissi (she owns ETF B) has EUR. How does this difference affect the returns realized by Franz and Sissi? For ETF A, the “reported” return (the fund return) would be 5%, i.e. the return in USD. But Franz and Sissi both calculate in euros - at the end of the day, this return is the only thing that matters to them. “Kindly” Franz’s Austrian custodian bank converts the USD return on ETF A into euros in the monthly portfolio report and in euros it is 0%. For the otherwise identical ETF B from Sissi with the fund currency euro, the reported return is 0% from the start because the fund company has already carried out the conversion. So the result is identical. Ergo: The reporting currency of a fund is economically meaningless. For the real Currency risk in a specific functional currency depends only on the economic substance, which is of course identical in both ETFs - after all, they replicate the same index. The fact that multiple funds are offered for the same index with different reporting currencies is an irrelevant marketing gimmick that suggests to investors that there is a non-existent difference in risk.
In the Gerd Kommer ETF - unlike in an MSCI World ETF - in more regional Dimension also includes emerging market stocks and in the Size dimension also small caps (secondary cap stocks). The ETF can therefore be referred to as an “all-cap-all-market ETF”, which basically reflects the entire world stock market. In the MSCI World, however, emerging market stocks and small caps are not taken into account.
Both the Gerd Kommer ETF and a classic MSCI World ETF invest in global stock markets. However, they differ significantly in detail - especially with regard to diversification.
The MSCI World only covers around 1,500 companies from 23 industrialized countries. The Gerd Kommer ETF, on the other hand, invests in over 5,000 companies worldwide - including emerging markets, smaller companies (small caps) and taking into account so-called factor premiums (e.g. value, quality, size, momentum). So it is an all-cap, all-country and multi-factor ETF with a clear correlation. Despite these differences, there is a high correlation as both funds follow the long-term growth of the global stock market.
Gerd Kommer attaches great importance to the greatest possible diversification as a risk reduction technique. Therefore, the Solactive Gerd Kommer Multifactor Equity Index NTR contains around 5,000 stocks. The maximum weight of an individual stock in the index is limited to a maximum of one percent (per share) on each adjustment day, so that “top-heavyness” (i.e. a share of the ten largest stocks of over 10% as in many other global stock ETFs) cannot occur. The individual value risk is effectively completely diversified away. Thanks to the unique GDP country weighting, the Gerd Kommer ETF also has more even diversification across countries. We call it the high number of stocks in combination with the avoidance of concentration in a few stocks, sectors or countries Ultra-diversification.
When the ETF started, around 2,000 individual stocks of the around 5,000 stocks in the index were selected for the ETF portfolio using an optimized sampling process. As the fund volume in the ETF increased, this number would continue to increase over time. As of mid-2025, over 4,000 individual titles are already included. This number may continue to rise with inflows. The aim of portfolio management in the ETF is to follow the index as precisely as possible while at the same time keeping transaction costs low for investors.
You can find more information about the benefits of diversification in White paper by Gerd Kommer.
Basically, we see the following concentration risks, which we want to mitigate through the construction of the index: at country level, at sector level and at individual stock level.
Countries
The weighting in the ETF is done at the level of individual countries, not regions. Possible concentrations within regions are also taken into account. What would it have looked like using Japan as an example? As of 2021, both the proportionate market capitalization and the proportionate GDP were around 6% (sources: MSCI, Worldbank). The index weighting in the Gerd Kommer Index was 5.7% on November 1, 2023, compared to 6.2% in the global stock market. You can see the values in the Quarterly Index Summary see. In 1989, however, Japan's market capitalization was around 40% and its GDP was around 15% (source: Dimson, Marsh & Staunton). With a proportional GDP weighting, the weight in the Gerd Kommer Index would have been around 28% at the time and not 40%. You can find the exact procedure in the Index Guidelines see. In a simplified form it is presented in this video shown. All adjustments are made through transactions within the index or ETF. If implemented with adjustments/rebalancing on your own, taxes can be triggered on sales. In this context, this one could Blog post be interesting.
sectors
Basically, the goal is to limit sector deviations from the parent index. As a rule, there are deviations of up to three or five percentage points per sector. The given deviations arise primarily from factor investing. It is to be expected that the sectors that are more strongly represented in the small cap sector (size) and are currently valued relatively more favorably (value) and are more profitable (quality) will be given a higher weighting. In the short term, momentum and investment factors can also play a role. In the medium and long term, it can be assumed that factor investing, by taking into account the value and quality premium, will result in expensive and unprofitable sectors being given less weight. When bubbles occur, this usually applies to the stocks affected: a high valuation that is no longer in proportion to profitability. Current sector weights can also be found in the Quarterly Index Summary. As you can see there, more expensive sectors such as Information Technology are currently weighted lower and cheaper sectors such as Energy are weighted higher.
Single title
Another concentration factor can be a high exposure to individual stocks. In the Gerd Kommer Index, each stock is capped at 1% on the quarterly adjustment date in order not to be too exposed to individual stocks. You can also find an overview of the holdings concentration in the Quarterly Index Summary.
Yes, the Gerd Kommer ETF is a physically replicating ETF (“optimized sampling”), i.e. not a swap ETF (synthetic ETF). This ensures that the underlying index is faithfully reflected and that there is no counterparty risk.
“Sample” comes from English and means sample; “Sampling” describes the drawing of samples. “Optimized sampling”, in turn, refers to sampling based on the population (i.e. all around 5,000 stocks in Solactive Gerd Kommer Multifactor Equity Index NTR) related, representative and sufficiently large subset (sample). The deviations relative to the index shown (tracking difference) are small due to the statistical methods used. In addition, optimized sampling helps to keep the transaction costs in the ETF as low as possible, which should benefit all investors in the ETF.
No, the investment approach underlying the ETF is commonly referred to as “passive investing”. It is based on a long-term, forecast-free, disciplined, rules-based buy-and-hold philosophy with the broadest possible diversification (buy-and-hold especially from the end investor perspective). However, there are some who refer to factor investing as “active investing”. We think that's nonsense. In general, the distinction between passive and active investing can degenerate into useless quibble.
In any case, our investment approach does not use forecasts. It is therefore a forecast-free and, in this sense, non-speculative investment. We also rely on very broad diversification (“ultradiversification”). Shares in the index (and therefore in the ETF) are not exchanged on the basis of forecasts and speculation, but rather when the underlying index definition derived from science requires it. From an end investor perspective, we recommend buy-and-hold combined with mechanical rebalancing.
Active investing is necessarily based on the use of forecasts, e.g. B. future securities prices, industry growth or macroeconomic variables such as interest rates or inflation. This is counterproductive because such forecasts will turn out to be wrong in around half of all cases, as we know from scientific studies. However, following such forecasts as part of an investment strategy always causes high transaction costs (costs for buying and selling securities). This means that following forecasts is detrimental to returns overall, whereas with buy-and-hold these costs only arise to a much smaller extent. Frequent trading can also have tax disadvantages.
Gerd Kommer explained why “active investing” should be rejected in a blog post entitled “Ten reasons why active investing works poorly” summarized.
A detailed description of our investment approach can be found in White paper by Gerd Kommer. The Books by Dr. Gerd Kommer explains and describes the approach in more detail.
No, that is not the case. There are more criteria (one could also say rules) for the inclusion and weighting of stocks in the index that the ETF tracks than would be the case with a simple MSCI World ETF. But that doesn't mean that the Gerd Kommer ETF is very complex. In reality, there are only around a dozen ultimately simple criteria that determine how the stocks in the index (and thus in the ETF) are weighted. If you compare this to an actively managed fund, the Gerd Kommer ETF is very simple. Actively managed funds use much more numerous, predominantly opinion-driven and constantly changing criteria when selecting securities. In general, when constructing our ETF, we adopted Einstein's motto: “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler”.
Since the 1960s, literally thousands of academic studies have been published showing that passive investment management is superior in terms of returns to active investment management.
Gerd Kommer has a detailed blog post entitled “Ten reasons why active investing works poorly“, which summarizes why we reject active investing.
You can find a detailed description of the investment approach underlying the Gerd Kommer ETF on our website Features page and in White paper by Gerd Kommer.
The short answer: nothing.
The slightly longer answer: We generally speak of a stock market crash when the stock market in question falls by more than around 25% from its last high. In such strong downward movements (collapses) in the market, you should simply do “nothing”. This means that you should neither sell securities nor delay planned purchases simply because of the downward movements. A large number of scientific studies over the past decades have shown that this buy-and-hold approach is superior to active investment approaches in terms of return and risk.
Some key considerations on the topic “What to do in a stock crash?” Gerd Kommer used the specific example of the “Corona Crash” (which began in mid-February 2020) in a blog post entitled “The Corona crash: what to do?” summarized.
For investors in the first half of life (“young investors”), a stock market crash can even have the effect of increasing their final wealth. We explained why this is so in a blog post entitled “Why young investors should pray for the crash“ explained.
Yes, the Gerd Kommer ETF is an Article 8 fund as defined by the European Commission's Disclosure Regulation (SFDR). Because it is based on minimum standards and is not a primary sustainability fund, it does not have ESG in its name. (“ESG” is related to sustainability criteria for environmental, social, governance.)
The Solactive Gerd Kommer Multifactor Equity Index NTR on which the Gerd Kommer ETF is based contains a CO2 filter (screen). To do this, the top 3 percent of companies in eleven main sectors with the highest greenhouse gas intensity are excluded. This is measured in greenhouse gases (Scope 1 [direct] and Scope 2 [indirect]) in relation to the company value (EVIC).
Companies are also excluded if they do not meet the minimum standards of globally recognized business practices. These include violations of United Nations regulations, the most severe sustainability violations (“Severe ESG Controversies”), the production of controversial weapons and coal manufacturers.
The ETF thus takes into account key sustainability aspects on which there is most consensus, but does not go as far as most sustainable funds in order to avoid the necessary compromises in diversification or return expectations. For example, the defense industry or energy companies are not excluded across the board.
The ESG exclusion criteria are detailed in the Index methodology explained.
The focus on minimum standards excludes a small number of companies. As of mid-2025, around 285 stocks from the parent index's starting universe of around 10,000 will be excluded for ESG reasons. Shifts in the weightings of the individual main sectors are avoided because the CO2 filter is applied within them. Minor shifts due to exclusions of companies that do not meet the minimum standards of globally accepted business practices are corrected to keep the related sector weighting neutral.
The effect of the ESG exclusions on diversification, risk and return is likely to be small or not measurable due to the approach described above. At the individual stock level, the excluded companies tend to have higher risks, for example due to reputational risks. By fundamentally adjusting the weights based on the factor exposure, an unfavorable factor bias (an unintentionally disadvantageous factor expression in sustainable funds) is avoided. The aim of factor investing is to increase expected returns; The effect of ESG should be minimized.
No, because from a scientific and therefore also our point of view, gold and other precious metals do not represent a sufficiently attractive asset class in relation to their respective long-term historical risk-return combination.
Gerd Kommer has a blog post about this with the title “Gold as an investment – do you need it?" written.
However, shares of precious metal producers (mining companies) and luxury goods companies that sell gold jewelry, among other things, are part of the global stock market and are therefore also included in the Gerd Kommer ETF.
No, because from a scientific and therefore also our point of view, raw materials do not represent a sufficiently attractive asset class in terms of their long-term historical return-risk combination.
With the exception of precious metals, investing in physical Raw materials (e.g. energy raw materials, agricultural raw materials, base metals or minerals) are not even realistically possible for private investors. This fact may not be clear to some private investors. Due to the high additional costs of purchasing, storage and insurance, raw material investments are actually only possible for investors via so-called commodity futures. These also exist in ETF form (more precisely: ETC form). Commodity futures are so-called derivatives, i.e. “derived” securities. The return and risk of commodity futures differ greatly from the underlying physical commodity market (“spot market”).
Gerd Kommer has a blog post about this with the title “Commodity investments – do they make sense?" written.
Yes, because the real estate industry is part of the world stock market, just like e.g. E.g. chemistry, information technology, health, mechanical engineering, transport, finance, media or utilities. Consider, for example, the largest German real estate company, the listed Vonovia SE based in Düsseldorf. The company owns around 480,000 rented apartments throughout Germany. Accordingly, with the Gerd Kommer ETF you invest in real estate through real estate stocks.
No, the Gerd Kommer ETF is a pure stock ETF.
No, because there is scientific research that suggests that companies underperform on average after their IPO (the initial public offering) because they are often priced higher in the months after IPO. Therefore, they cannot be included in the index and thus the Gerd Kommer ETF until twelve months after their IPO. This is intended to increase expected returns in the long term.
Gerd Kommer has a blog post about this with the title “Investing in IPOs – a losing bet" written.
No, because there is downward price pressure on stocks that are particularly highly leveraged.
Shares that are increasingly lent out at a certain point in time via securities lending are also usually shares in which there is particularly high speculation that the price will fall, because the borrowers are typically hedge funds that “short” the share in question in order to profit from a fall in price. Academic research suggests that from a buyer's perspective, such stocks have short-term market-below average returns. Historical examples include GameStop and Wirecard, both of which had extremely high securities lending rates at times for different reasons. In the underlying index, around 0.5% of all stocks are excluded based on their relative lending ratio.
Gerd Kommer has a blog post about this with the title “GameStop Effect: Is It Smart to Bet Against Short Sellers?" written.
No, it is a pure equity ETF.
No, there is no currency hedging in the Gerd Kommer ETF. In the blog post “Currency hedging: when does it make sense and when does it not?“ by Gerd Kommer you can find out more about the facts of exchange rate risk and how it is hedged in an investor portfolio.
The trading currency of the Gerd Kommer ETF on German stock exchanges is usually the euro. The trading currency on the SIX Swiss Exchange is the Swiss franc. The trading currency on the London Stock Exchange is the US dollar.
Disclaimer: Be aware of currency risk. You can receive payments in different currencies, so the final return depends on the exchange rate between currencies.
The country weights of the underlying index are in Quarterly Index Summary listed.
The sector weightings of the underlying index are in Quarterly Index Summary listed.
Distributions occur quarterly in March, June, September and December, along with those of most other distributing stock ETFs.
The distributions depend on the dividend payments of the companies included in the ETF. These are not known in the future, which is why no reliable information is possible.
On average over the long term, companies that have a positive (desirable) value of the value and quality factor premiums tend to pay higher dividends. For the Size, Investment and Momentum premiums, this relationship is changeable and fluctuates over time.
The current dividend yield can be found in the Quarterly Index Summary under “Fundamentals”.
From the index return differences between the net total return and price return Index the historical dividends of the index can be derived. Future distributions may vary. In the table below you will find an overview of the historical “Net Dividend Yield”:
2018 2,1%
2019 2,2%
2020 2,0%
2021 1,8%
2022 2,3%
2023 2,4%
2024 2,3%
When extrapolating from the ETF's distributions so far since its launch, the following points must be taken into account:
The Gerd Kommer ETF launched in mid-2023. Since then, the performance can be viewed on all relevant ETF portals. By definition, there is no further data for the ETF.
The underlying index started on July 31, 2017. This is the longest period of time available over which reliable data points are available for the entire index universe. If you look at the individual factors in the scientific literature, the data goes back further than what was taken into account when constructing the index.
As with most world ETFs, the index is denominated in US dollars and not in euros. When making a comparison, pay attention to the correct choice of currency and the correct NTR version (“net total return”) of the index, i.e. the index taking into account dividends after flat-rate tax deduction.
There are approximately 10,000 stocks in the Prime Listing Standard segments of all stock exchanges in the world. In theory, it would be desirable to invest in all 10,000 stocks. In practice, however, transaction costs must be taken into account. The index was therefore constructed in such a way that all stocks contained in it could be represented at a reasonable cost. Around half of the 10,000 stocks are therefore not taken into account in the index. These are the smallest of the small stocks (smallest small caps and micro caps). Although these are large in number, they only represent around 2%-3% of the total market value of the 10,000 shares. Buying these stocks physically would incur high transaction costs due to their number and low liquidity of these stocks. The missing weight is redistributed (reallocated) among the other small caps in the index, so that the natural small cap weighting is retained at the beginning of the index optimization. Overall, smaller stocks are overweighted by taking the size factor into account in the optimization. There are also ESG, IPO and securities lending exclusions, but these only represent a small number of exclusions.
The maximum weight of an individual stock in the index is limited to a maximum of one percent (per share) on each adjustment day, so that “top-heavyness” (i.e. a share of the ten largest stocks of over 10%, as exists in many other global equity ETFs) cannot occur. The weights can fluctuate freely between the quarterly adjustment days (rebalancing days). This is common for passive ETFs and the effect would be more pronounced in semi-annually adjusted ETFs than in the Gerd Kommer ETF.
When developing the investment strategy, we always kept capital turnover in mind. One of the reasons why the momentum and investment factors were designed as a screen in the investment strategy is to reduce portfolio turnover. The one-way turnover of the underlying index averaged around 30% per year from the inception of the index until the launch of the ETF. The values may fluctuate and may be higher or lower in the future.
In factor investing – often called smart beta investing – so-called factor premiums are overweighted compared to a market capitalization-weighted index. In a “normal” securities index (e.g. the DAX or the MSCI World) the individual stocks are listed according to the principle of Market capitalization weighted. This means that the weight of an individual stock company in the index, be it Apple or BMW, is determined by its market capitalization (also called stock market value). Market capitalization is the market value of a company's equity (or, to put it simply, its enterprise value).
With factor investing, it is no longer just the market capitalization that determines the weight of a company in the index, but also other “factors”, i.e. “factor premiums”. An example: The Value-Factor (“Value” = value) expresses whether a share is inexpensive relative to certain business variables such as profit or book equity.
Factor premiums are statistically identifiable drivers of return and risk in an asset class (here in the asset class stocks). They explain a large part of the return-risk combination of a diversified portfolio. By overweighting factor premiums in a portfolio relative to a "market neutral" portfolio (the overall market), its expected return can be increased relative to an appropriate market neutral benchmark. Gerd Kommer has a blog post about this with the title “Factor investing – the basics" written.
The Gerd Kommer ETF overweights the factor premiums as part of an optimization in the equity segment Size, Value and Quality. The rewards Investment and Momentum are also taken into account via a downstream filter (see next question for more details on the individual factor premiums).
Compared to a “market-neutral” portfolio weighted purely according to market capitalization, the Gerd Kommer ETF also overweights emerging markets. Some scholars also see the historical excess returns that emerging market stocks have shown over comparable developed market stocks as a type of factor premium - the Political risk-Premium.
The following factor premiums are taken into account in the Gerd Kommer ETF:
You can use the Gerd Kommer ETF from integrated Multifactor investing speaks, as the factor premiums taken into account in one individual Index are mapped instead of in several individual indices. In this way, theoretically possible adverse interactions between individual factor premiums are reduced. In addition, it is exploited in such a way that certain factor premiums have a stronger effect in combination with others than “standalone”. This applies, for example, to Size and Value or Size and Quality.
Factor premiums provide broad diversification Size, Value and Quality achieved by adjusting the respective weights of the shares. This happens as part of the quarterly rebalancing, in which the three factors are weighted equally.
Regarding the rewards Momentum and Investment We use a special screening technique to keep the securities turnover (turnover) associated with the use of these two bonuses and the resulting transaction costs low.
The Political–Risk-Premium results from the adjustment of the country weights towards GDP (gross domestic product) before the optimization, i.e. within the framework of the country weighting.
Further mechanical details can be found in the Index methodology be read.
No, factor investing can lead to lower returns over several years than “market-neutral” investing, i.e. passive investing without taking factor premiums into account.
The expected return advantage of factor investing over market-neutral passive investing becomes more likely the longer the observation period is. Factor investing can also provide worse returns than market-neutral investing over periods of five or ten years. However, one should take into account that the stock market is generally only statistically more profitable, i.e. in the long term, than the savings account. In the last hundred years, in every country for which such financial market data is available, there have been phases of up to ten years in which the national stock market returned worse than the “savings book” or overnight money. However, in the long run the stock market produced a much higher return.
Gerd Kommer has a blog post about this with the title “The Pains of Factor Investing" published.
In the Quarterly Index Summary The factor uplifts (increase in the characteristics of the fundamental values of the factors) of the underlying index are listed.
No, the “High Dividend Yield” factor premium is not directly taken into account in the Gerd Kommer ETF.
The overall goal of index construction is to maximize expected returns while ensuring ultra-diversification. Therefore, only those factor premiums that can be assumed to increase expected returns are taken into account.
Research has often shown that dividend yield per se has no systematic influence on total return. Possible outperformance is largely attributed to overlap with other factor premiums (particularly value and quality). On a long-term average, companies that have a positive (desirable) value and quality factor premium also tend to pay higher dividends. This relationship is changeable for the Size, Investment and Momentum premiums and fluctuates over time.
Perhaps our blog post “Dividend strategies: facts and fantasies“be interesting for you.
No, the minimum volatility premium (also called low volatility premium) is not taken into account in the Gerd Kommer ETF.
The overall goal of index construction is to maximize expected returns while ensuring ultra-diversification. Therefore, only those factor premiums that can be assumed to increase expected returns are taken into account.
Minimum volatility can lead to higher expected values in the long term risk-adjusted Returns lead, but not necessarily to higher ones absolute Returns that need to be maximized. Most academic studies suggest that the historically higher returns are due to the overlap with the other factor premiums (particularly value, quality and investment) and are probably the reason for the performance.
It is a matter of integrated Multifactor investing in terms of the factor premiums size, value and quality. The investment and momentum factors are referred to downstream as so-called Screens taken into account in order to keep turnover (stock turnover) as low as possible, as these key figures tend to change faster than those of the other factors.
When constructing the underlying index, conscious attention was paid to interactions between factor premiums. The factors Size, Value and Quality, which tend to reinforce each other, are therefore taken into account simultaneously in the optimization. For example, stocks that have a particularly positive factor in all three categories tend to have their weighting increased more than other stocks and vice versa. For more information about integrated multifactor investing, see our blog post “Integrated multifactor investing“.
The investment and momentum factors are taken into account downstream as so-called screens in order to keep turnover (stock turnover) low, as these key figures tend to change faster than those of the other factors.
Exclusions such as ESG, IPOs or securities lending are taken into account before optimization, so that no distortions arise.
Yes, in the underlying index the optimization is carried out individually for each country.
We reject any form of “market timing” – the attempt to “avoid” “bad” market phases – because it does not work reliably enough and can be detrimental to returns in the long term. This rejection therefore includes valuation-driven market timing. We believe the investment principle makes sense to always invest immediately when you receive money that is not needed in the long term and that you fundamentally want to invest.
In this context, the blog post “Overvaluation of the stock market – what to do?" by Gerd Kommer may be of interest to you. This blog post makes it clear, among other things, that many statements published in the popular media about supposedly high or overvalued or "hot" markets are technically misunderstandings and confusions. It also explains that even a very highly valued stock market still has a higher expected return than, for example, B. Daily deposits at banks or savings accounts.
Market timing in terms of entry timing works just as poorly as market timing in general. Gerd Kommer has a detailed blog post about this with the title “Timing of market entry – does it work?" written.
On a statistical average, when it comes to the stock market, it is more profitable to enter immediately with the entire investment amount intended for the investment in one amount than to enter in partial amounts over e.g. B. twelve or 36 months.
For psychological reasons, however, a stretched entry may make sense for some private investors. Gerd Kommer has a blog post on this question entitled “Entry into the stock market: one-time investment or phased investment?" written.
However, Gerd Kommer generally recommends risk management not through the timing of entry into the stock market, but rather through a sufficiently conservative “level 1 asset allocation” (dividing the portfolio into a risky and a low-risk component).
If you are currently worried about whether now is the right time to start, you can start with a consciously conservative (low-risk) Level 1 asset allocation and then, as these worries diminish, “upgrade” to a more ambitious Level 1 asset allocation possible within your maximum risk category (i.e. a Level 1 asset allocation with a higher proportion of the risky portfolio component).
The following applies to an investor with loan liabilities: If the investor does not invest exclusively in the risky part of the portfolio (i.e. has a 100/0 level 1 asset allocation), then he usually enters into a so-called “negative interest differential transaction”. Whether a capital investment makes sense in this constellation cannot be answered in general terms.
Gerd Kommer has a blog post about this with the title “Negative interest rate differential transactions – harmful and unnecessary“ written and the YouTube video “Financing self-used property and investing in ETFs – does that make sense?” published.
On the one hand, the global market share of “passive investing” – if measured correctly – is much lower than is often misleadingly published in the media. On the other hand, over the last few decades, with the bursting of the dot-com bubble, the Great Financial Crisis and the Corona crisis, ETFs have passed several stress tests of their legal structure without any problems.
Gerd Kommer has a blog post about this with the title “The legend of passive investing's high market share“ and in connection with “Criticism of ETFs” another blog post entitled “The absurd demonization of ETFs" published.
The L&G Gerd Kommer Multifactor Equity UCITS ETF (“Gerd-Kommer-ETF”) is legally a so-called UCITS fund, i.e. a public fund, and is therefore subject to EU UCITS fund legislation and regulation. The investor assets in the ETF represent a so-called special fund. If an ETF provider goes bankrupt, the assets managed by the ETF provider are protected from access by the ETF provider's creditors and are completely separated due to their status as a special fund. Only the holders of the Gerd Kommer ETF shares are entitled to their pro rata share of the assets managed by the ETF.
Neither Gerd Kommer Invest GmbH (“GKI”) nor Legal & General Investment Management Limited (“L&G”) nor Solactive AG (“Solactive”) are authorized to obtain possession or ownership of the customer’s assets. The customer's assets are held by the custodian bank. In the event of an insolvency of GKI, L&G or Solactive, the customer assets contained in the custody account do not fall into the relevant insolvency estate. Insolvency would therefore not affect the asset positions of investors (customers).
In the event of the custodian bank becoming insolvent, investors (customers) have a right to return the securities in their portfolio. Here, too, the securities do not fall into the bankruptcy estate of the custodian bank. The custodian bank only acts as custodian of the securities.
Due to the strict UCITS regulation, the money invested in the Gerd Kommer ETF is protected as best as possible against any insolvencies of all parties involved.
The Gerd Kommer ETF is an index fund, i.e. h. It purely mechanically forms the underlying index, the Solactive Gerd Kommer Multifactor Equity Index NTR, away. The index was initially developed by Gerd Kommer Invest together with L&G and Solactive and launched by Solactive. It is continually recalculated based on the established rules. However, no further action is required from Gerd Kommer Invest or Dr. Gerd Kommer necessary. This means that the Gerd Kommer ETF will be in effect in the event of Dr. Gerd Kommer would continue with the established investment strategy.
Regardless, Dr. Gerd Kommer strives to live a healthy lifestyle and plans to pursue his passion of passive investing for many years to come.
Like any capital market transaction, securities lending is associated with certain risks. With the Gerd Kommer ETF, this instrument is only used in compliance with strict risk controls. The most important risks at a glance:
The costs of the ETF (“TER”) amount to 0.45% per year, are already included in the ETF’s reported return and are therefore offset directly against the performance, i.e. h. they automatically reduce the taxable profit.
In December 2025 we have the total expense ratio (TER) of the Gerd Kommer ETF at 0.45% p.a. a. lowered. The fund volume has exceeded the $1 billion mark in a pleasingly short period of time. We would like to pass on the associated economies of scale to our investors.
In addition, investors now also benefit from the implementation of a Securities lending program in the ETF, as is common with most large funds. An above-average 80% of the additional income generated in this way flows into the fund assets, thereby creating further financial added value for our investors.
We would like to thank our investors for the trust they have placed in us.
We are convinced that the Gerd Kommer ETF is currently suitable, taking into account the additional features, including: in the area of risk diversification, is fairly priced compared to ETFs on standard indices. If we see scope for reducing the TER in the future, we will use this, as it is part of our mission to make investing cheaply accessible to private investors. As of today, we cannot estimate whether and when this will be the case.
No, there are no relevant differences here.
Both share classes – accumulating (WKN: WELT0A) and distributing (WKN: WELT0B) – belong to the same fund. Management is carried out uniformly, the fund assets are identical and the underlying investment strategy and cost structure apply at the overall fund level. Accordingly, we do not expect any significant differences in returns in the long term.
A comparison of the performance – including reinvested distributions – confirms that the performance of both share classes is effectively the same.
As far as tradability is concerned, both variants are traded on every trading day. The spreads (difference between buying and selling prices) are primarily influenced by the trading volume of the respective share class. Larger or more frequently traded share classes tend to have lower spreads - but this is a difference of degree, not fundamental.
As the fund volume grows, it can be assumed that the spreads will continue to fall for both share classes.
There are several reasons for this, which primarily stem from the fact that the Gerd Kommer ETF cannot be directly compared with ETFs on, for example, the MSCI World, since the Gerd Kommer ETF offers significantly more features and is more complex, as we will briefly explain below.
Investing in emerging markets generally leads to higher costs at the fund level. Due to the proportional GDP weighting, the Gerd Kommer ETF has a higher weighting in emerging markets compared to ETFs that only take emerging markets into account as part of their market capitalization or not at all.
Taking small caps into account leads to greater effort in portfolio management and index calculation, as the number of stocks in the underlying optimization increases significantly. To our knowledge, the Gerd Kommer ETF is currently (as of mid-2025) the only multifactor ETF in Germany that takes emerging markets and small caps into account, which we consider to be important because other factor premiums have a stronger effect in the small cap sector. This means that, for example, small value stocks have a higher expected return than small cap and value stocks on their own.
Taking factor premiums into account requires more effort at the conceptual, index and portfolio management levels.
Significantly more data points (factors, GDP weights, ESG, securities lending) are required to calculate the index than for a market capitalization-weighted index.
The costs of the Gerd Kommer ETF are comparable to other multifactor ETFs or portfolio funds and dramatically lower than those of conventional active funds. Taking into account the points listed above and the fact that the Gerd Kommer ETF is the only ETF approved in Germany that, in addition to market capitalization, also takes into account the economic performance of a country when weighting the region, we are convinced that we can offer fair pricing.
You can find a comparison with other “world AG” and multifactor ETFs as well as active funds here.
No.
No, no performance fees are charged for the Gerd Kommer ETF because, firstly, performance fees almost inevitably cause harmful conflicts of interest for the fund company and secondly, rather than increasing the long-term return of customers - as is often claimed - they lower them. In our opinion, performance fees are simply unfair fees. Gerd Kommer has a blog post about this with the title “Performance fees – appearance and reality" written.
We aim to proactively manage and limit portfolio transaction costs for the ETF. For example, we use optimization methods to limit portfolio turnover and thereby reduce taxes and duties such as stamp duties, regulatory levies and stock exchange levies wherever possible.
We paid attention to the portfolio transaction costs when developing the investment strategy. One of the reasons why the momentum and investment factors were designed as a screen in the investment strategy is to reduce portfolio turnover. The one-way turnover of the underlying index averaged around 30% per year from the inception of the index until the launch of the ETF. The values may fluctuate and may be higher or lower in the future.
The portfolio transaction costs for the ETF can be found in the European MiFID Template (EMT), which is available on the website from L&G under the section “Literature” > “Legal Documents” > Excel file “MiFID II EMT Costs and Charges”. In the EMT you have to filter by the relevant ISIN (IE0001UQQ933 for the accumulating or IE000FPWSL69 for the distributing asset class). The transaction costs are listed there under “Financial Instrument Transaction Costs Ex Post”. The EMT is updated every six months and is usually published in the April/October cycle.
Please note that the portfolio transaction costs shown in the EMT follow a predefined methodology of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), where the portfolio transaction costs are composed of the custody costs, the explicit portfolio transaction costs and the implicit costs (i.e. the market influences on the trading activities of the fund). In certain constellations it can happen that “0” is shown as a value. If you would like to find out more about the underlying calculation, please visit the ESMA website.
A possible magnitude for the costs from custody, implicit and explicit transaction costs (deviating from the EMT definition) can be around 0.1% p.a. a. lay. As the fund volume continues to increase, this value could fall further below. We would like to point out that this is a non-binding figure and that the actual costs may vary.
In three simple steps and from €10:
In three steps and from €10:
