Macquarie Walter Scott Global Equity Active ETF (MQWS) — Review & Analysis

MQWS is an actively managed global equity ETF sub-advised by Walter Scott & Partners, an Edinburgh-based fundamental investor with a long-term, low-turnover approach. AUM is $2.79 billion as at May 2026 — making MQWS one of the largest active equity ETFs on the ASX. The benchmark is the MSCI World ex Australia Index in AUD unhedged. The 1.28% p.a. management fee is well above passive alternatives and reflects the active management overlay. Compare MQWS across the all ETFs directory.

MQWS competes against passive global equity funds like VGS (0.18%), BGBL (0.08%) and IWLD — funds that deliver the same benchmark exposure at a fraction of the fee. The 1.10%+ fee gap is substantial, and MQWS needs to outperform passive alternatives by at least that margin net of fees just to break even. Walter Scott's investment style focuses on high-quality growth companies held for decades, with turnover well below 20% per year — closer to a long-term concentrated portfolio than a benchmark-aware mandate.

The Walter Scott approach has a long institutional track record globally — the firm has managed money for major pensions and sovereign wealth funds since 1983. The active management thesis is straightforward: Walter Scott's bottom-up research, long holding periods, and quality screen produce a portfolio that compounds materially differently from a market-cap-weighted global index. Whether that justifies 1.28% p.a. depends entirely on net-of-fee returns, which are publicly available in the fund's reporting.

MQWS is unhedged. Investors choosing MQWS over passive global equity are making an explicit bet on long-term active outperformance net of fees. Our active vs passive ETFs guide covers the data on when active management has and hasn't delivered across markets.