Fidelity Global Emerging Markets Active ETF (FEMX) — Review & Analysis

FEMX is Fidelity's actively managed emerging markets ETF, with a 0.99% p.a. management fee — the highest in the EM category by a wide margin. The fund is run by Fidelity's emerging markets investment team — one of the largest dedicated EM research teams of any global asset manager. AUM is reported as $0.00M as at May 2026 in the platform feed, reflecting an early-stage data gap on the wrapper. Compare FEMX across the EM cohort on our emerging markets ETF page.

The case for active EM is stronger than for active developed markets. EM markets are broader, less efficiently researched, and have meaningfully wider dispersion in company quality — meaning skilled stock pickers have more opportunity to add value compared to picking among the well-covered Apple, Microsoft and Nvidia of the US large-cap universe. Fidelity's EM team has decades of track record across multiple market cycles.

FEMX's 0.99% fee is substantial and a high hurdle to clear. To break even versus passive alternatives, FEMX must outperform BEMG (0.35%) by 64bp annually or IEM (0.69%) by 30bp annually net of fees. The closest active EM peer on the ASX is JEME (JPMorgan, 0.35%) — though JEME is a research-enhanced indexing approach rather than fully discretionary active management.

FEMX is unhedged. The fund suits investors who specifically want active management in EM and have confidence in Fidelity's research process. Whether the 0.99% fee delivers value depends entirely on net-of-fee performance, which is publicly reported. Our active vs passive ETFs guide covers when active has and hasn't outperformed across markets.