MARKETS & FX
Taking on the Index King: SBI and State Street Add the Final Piece
# SBI# index fund# Orukan# State Street# low-cost investing
Key Points
- SBI partners with US-based State Street to launch ultra-low-cost index funds
- The target is the dominant 'Orukan' global equity index fund
- The JV adds in-house capability, accelerating a fee war
Analysis
For Taiwanese investors who dollar-cost-average and watch expense ratios, this signals an intensifying fee war in Japan's index funds. SBI Holdings and State Street's JV launches a lowest-cost index fund aimed squarely at the market-leading 'Orukan' global equity fund.
The key is that SBI's in-house capability — the last piece — lets it wage a price war outsourcing couldn't sustain. Lower fees mean less drag on long-term compounding. But don't pick on fees alone: tracking error, scale stability and product continuity matter too.
Watch whether Orukan cuts fees, how fast SBI's fund grows, and whether this spills into Taiwan's global equity ETF pricing.