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It is a low-cost fund that lets American investors buy a basket of large and mid-sized German companies in one trade.
This fund is not a company that makes or sells things. It is a basket. When you buy a share, you are buying a tiny slice of dozens of German businesses all at once — think of it as buying a single gift box instead of shopping for each chocolate separately. The fund tracks an index called the FTSE Germany RIC Capped Index, which is basically a list of the biggest and most traded German companies. The people who pay for this are ordinary investors, financial advisors, and retirement accounts that want exposure to Germany without picking individual stocks. The fund earns money by charging a small yearly fee, roughly 0.09% of your money, which is very cheap compared to many rivals.
So who is actually inside the box? Germany's economy is famous for heavy industry, cars, and chemicals. Big names like SAP (business software), Siemens (industrial equipment and automation), and Allianz (insurance) often sit near the top and together can make up a large chunk of the fund. Because it is "capped," no single company is allowed to swallow the whole basket, which keeps it diversified. The fund holds mostly large companies, but it also includes mid-sized ones, the kind of solid German firms that make machines, parts, and specialty products the world buys. In short, owning this is a bet on German manufacturing, engineering, and exports — not on a single factory or a single CEO.
This ETF is run by Franklin Resources, a big American asset manager, and it trades on NYSE Arca, so you can buy or sell it any time the US market is open, just like a stock. It is part of Franklin's "FTSE" family of country funds, a line built to be cheap and simple. The fund does not try to beat the market; it just tries to match it. It pays out whatever dividends the German companies pay, minus its small fee, usually once a year. If you want a simple, low-cost way to own a slice of Germany, this is exactly the tool — no passport required.
Saved answer · last researched 11 Oct 2026