CSPX vs VUAA vs SPYL vs VUSA: S&P 500 UCITS ETFs Compared for Singapore Investors

State Street's S&P 500 UCITS ETF (SPYL) charges a total expense ratio of 0.03% as of 24 October 2026, less than half the 0.07% charged by the iShares, Vanguard accumulating and Vanguard distributing alternatives. For investors in Singapore comparing CSPX vs VUAA vs SPYL vs VUSA, that fee gap is the most visible difference between four funds that otherwise hold almost the same 500 companies.

An S&P 500 UCITS ETF is a fund that tracks the S&P 500 index under the EU's UCITS rules, and all four here are domiciled in Ireland. The oldest of them, the iShares Core S&P 500 UCITS ETF (CSPX), held US$157.63 billion in fund net assets as of 30 September 2026, and its share class dates back to May 2010.

Singapore-based investors usually reach these funds through a broker with London Stock Exchange access. Irish domicile is the shared reason to choose any of them over a US-listed fund such as VOO, because it can lower US dividend withholding and keeps the units outside the US estate.

Once you have settled on an Irish S&P 500 fund, the four differ on the fee, on whether dividends are reinvested or paid out, and on the size and trading activity of the line you buy. There is also a ticker mix-up to avoid between SPYL's London GBP line and an unrelated US leveraged fund.

This guide explains how the four funds compare on fees, income policy, size and tracking, which London tickers belong to which fund, how Singapore investors are taxed on them, and which fund suits which preference.

CSPX vs VUAA vs SPYL vs VUSA at a glance

All four are Irish, physically replicated and benchmarked to the S&P 500. They differ on fee, income policy and listing lines.

Source: iShares CSPX fact sheet, Vanguard VUAA, State Street SPYL, Vanguard VUSA (as of 25 October 2026)

VUAA and VUSA are two share classes of the same Vanguard fund. They hold the same portfolio and differ only in what happens to dividends.

All four track the S&P 500, so why do returns differ?

Each fund's return to you is the index return minus a set of frictions. The gap between the fund and its benchmark over a period is the tracking difference, and it is the most useful single number for comparing funds that share an index.

Several things drive it:

The fee. A 0.03% fund starts each year with a 0.04 percentage-point head start over a 0.07% fund.

Withholding inside the fund. US dividends reach an Irish fund after US tax, and benchmarks such as the S&P 500 Net Total Return index used by Vanguard assume a withholding rate. A fund that suffers less than the index assumes can beat its benchmark before fees.

Replication. CSPX uses full physical replication, and Vanguard holds all or substantially all index stocks, sampling where full replication is impractical. Small differences in holdings show up as small differences in return.

Cash drag and timing. Dividends sit as cash briefly before reinvestment, and funds trade at slightly different times when the index changes.

Securities lending. Some funds lend shares for a fee, which can offset part of the expense ratio.

For four large S&P 500 funds, these differences are usually measured in hundredths of a percentage point a year, so the fee and the income policy tend to matter more than the issuer.

Which S&P 500 UCITS ETF has the lowest fees?

SPYL has the lowest fee of the four at 0.03%. CSPX has a 0.07% total expense ratio on its September 2026 fact sheet, and VUAA and VUSA share a 0.07% ongoing charge as at 30 September 2026.

SPYL at 0.03% vs CSPX, VUAA and VUSA at 0.07%

The fee is charged on your balance every year, so the gap scales with portfolio size.

Example only, based on iShares, Vanguard and State Street fund pages (as of 25 October 2026). Excludes trading costs, spreads and FX.

Over long periods the gap compounds. S$100,000 growing at an assumed 6% a year before fees reaches about S$316,253 after 20 years at 0.07%, and about S$318,795 at 0.03%, a difference of roughly S$2,541.

Annual fees at 0.07% and 0.03% on S$10,000, S$100,000 and S$500,000, and the 20-year gap on S$100,000

When a tight trading spread beats a lower TER

The bid-ask spread is the gap between the price buyers pay and sellers receive on the exchange. You pay roughly half of it each time you buy or sell, and it varies by fund, line and time of day.

Say Fund A charges 0.03% with an assumed 0.10% spread and Fund B charges 0.07% with an assumed 0.04% spread. On a single S$100,000 purchase, half the spread costs S$50 for Fund A and S$20 for Fund B. Fund A's lower fee saves S$40 a year, so it recovers the S$30 entry gap in about nine months, or about 18 months once the exit spread is counted too.

Example only. Fees from State Street and iShares (as of 25 October 2026). Assumes spreads of 0.10% and 0.04%, which are not live quotes for any fund.

For a buy-and-hold investor, the fee wins within a year or two. For someone who trades in and out often, the spread can matter more, and it is worth checking the live spread on the exact line.

Accumulating vs distributing: CSPX, VUAA and SPYL vs VUSA

CSPX, VUAA and SPYL are accumulating share classes: dividends from the S&P 500 companies are reinvested inside the fund and show up as a higher unit price. VUSA is distributing and pays dividends quarterly; its most recent payment was US$0.3096 per unit, with an ex-dividend date of 17 September 2026.

How dividends flow in an accumulating share class compared with VUSA's distributing class

Both kinds of share class receive US dividends after the fund-level US withholding; the accumulating fund reinvests what is left. The difference is what reaches you: VUSA puts cash in your brokerage account four times a year, while the other three leave it working inside the fund.

Distributing suits investors who want income to spend or to direct elsewhere. Accumulating suits investors who would reinvest anyway, because it saves the order fee, FX conversion and effort of reinvesting small dividend amounts by hand.

The USD line of VUSA trades in London as VUSD. If you want the distributing Vanguard fund in US dollars, VUSD is the ticker to search; VUSA itself trades in GBP on the London Stock Exchange.

Fund size, liquidity and tracking

Fund size shows how established a fund is, though on its own it says little about returns. CSPX's fund net assets were US$157.63 billion at 30 September 2026. SPYL's share class held US$19.40 billion, within a fund of US$44.35 billion, as of 23 October 2026. VUAA and VUSA draw on one Vanguard fund that combines both share classes.

Three terms help when reading fund pages:

NAV (net asset value) is the value of the fund's holdings per unit, calculated once a day.

AUM (assets under management) is the total value of the fund or share class.

Trading volume is how many units change hands on an exchange, which affects how tight the spread is.

ETF liquidity also depends on the underlying stocks. S&P 500 shares trade heavily, so market makers can create and redeem units as demand changes, which helps keep spreads on these funds tight. Spreads still tend to widen around the open and close of the London session.

SPYL is the youngest of the four, with its share class launched on 31 October 2023. CSPX's fund launched on 18 May 2010, so it has a much longer tracking record to judge.

Exchange listings and the SPXL ticker trap

Each of these funds trades on several exchanges and in several currencies, and the ticker changes with the line. On the London Stock Exchange alone, each fund has a USD line and a GBP line.

London Stock Exchange USD and GBP tickers for CSPX, VUAA, SPYL and VUSA, and the separate US-listed SPXL

The trap is SPXL. On the London Stock Exchange, SPXL is the GBP line of SPYL, an ordinary S&P 500 tracker. On NYSE Arca, SPXL is the Direxion Daily S&P 500 Bull 3X ETF, which seeks 300% of the S&P 500's daily performance and resets each day. Searching "SPXL" in a broker app can bring up either one.

The fix is to search by ISIN. SPYL's ISIN is IE000XZSV718 on every exchange, and the "IE" prefix confirms an Irish fund. A US fund's ISIN starts with "US". Check the exchange and currency in the order ticket too: CSP1, VUAG, SPXL and VUSA are all GBP lines, so buying them from a USD balance usually triggers an extra currency conversion.

SPYL's primary listing is on Deutsche Börse in EUR, and CSPX trades in EUR on Euronext Amsterdam under the same CSPX ticker it uses for USD in London.

Singapore tax on CSPX, VUAA, SPYL and VUSA

All four are Irish funds, so they share one tax position for a Singapore-based investor. US dividends paid to the fund can be taxed at the 15% treaty rate under the US–Ireland treaty, against the 30% rate applied to dividends paid directly to an investor in Singapore by a US fund such as VOO. The 15% rate depends on the fund qualifying under the treaty.

For US estate tax, corporate stock organised outside US law is property located outside the United States, so units in these funds do not count towards the US$60,000 Form 706-NA filing threshold for nonresident non-citizens. In Singapore, gains from investments are generally not taxable for individuals, though frequent trading can be treated as a business.

How to buy CSPX, VUAA, SPYL or VUSA from Singapore

You need a broker or platform with London Stock Exchange access, a USD balance if you want the USD lines, and the fund's ISIN to confirm the right product. London trades during the Singapore afternoon and evening, and limit orders help control the price on lines with wider spreads.

Before you buy, check that the platform offers the exact share class, which currency line it routes to, and what it charges on London trades.

Which fund suits which preference?

The right fund depends on what you value most.

Source: iShares, Vanguard and State Street fund pages (as of 25 October 2026)

Best for low fees: SPYL suits a buy-and-hold investor who wants the cheapest Irish S&P 500 exposure and can buy the USD line, accepting a shorter history.

Best for an established fund: CSPX suits investors who want the longest record of the four and a fund of more than US$150 billion. It costs 0.04 percentage points a year more than SPYL.

Best for Vanguard investors: VUAA, which shares its portfolio with VUSA, suits investors who hold other Vanguard funds and want the accumulating class.

Best for income: VUSA, or VUSD in USD, suits investors who want quarterly cash. Reinvesting that cash yourself costs order fees and time.

Holding two of these funds together adds cost and paperwork without adding diversification, since they own the same index.

Invest in CSPX with StashAway

Of the four funds, CSPX is the one you can buy in ETF Explorer, from its S&P 500 UCITS page. Each buy or sell order costs US$1 (excluding GST), with no management fee on top, and you can pay with cash or SRS. If you want the same index without the UCITS wrapper, the US-listed IVV is on the S&P 500 page.

S&P 500 funds rise and fall with US shares, so you could get back less than you invest.

Frequently asked questions

Investors in Singapore choosing between the four usually ask these.

Is SPYL better than CSPX?

SPYL is cheaper, at 0.03% a year against 0.07% for CSPX, which is worth about S$40 a year on S$100,000. CSPX has a much longer record and a larger fund. For a long-term holder who can buy either, the fee favours SPYL; platform access and spreads can tip the choice the other way.

Is VUSA the same as VUAA?

They are two share classes of the same Vanguard S&P 500 UCITS fund, with the same 0.07% OCF and portfolio. VUSA pays dividends quarterly, while VUAA reinvests them. In London, VUSA is the GBP distributing line and VUSD the USD one.

Does CSPX pay dividends?

No. CSPX is an accumulating class, so dividends from its holdings are reinvested inside the fund and reflected in the unit price. If you want cash payouts from an Irish S&P 500 fund, VUSA or VUSD is the distributing option among these four.

Is SPYL Ireland-domiciled?

Yes. Its ISIN, IE000XZSV718, starts with "IE", and the fund is domiciled in Ireland. That gives it the same withholding and estate-tax position as CSPX, VUAA and VUSA.

Is SPXL on the London Stock Exchange a leveraged ETF?

On the London Stock Exchange, SPXL is the GBP line of SPYL, a plain S&P 500 tracker. The US-listed SPXL on NYSE Arca is the leveraged one: a Direxion fund that seeks three times the S&P 500's daily return.

How do I buy LSE UCITS ETFs in Singapore?

Use a broker or platform that offers London Stock Exchange access, convert SGD to USD if you want a USD line, and search by ISIN to land on the right fund. Fees for London trades vary widely between platforms, so compare them before you start regular purchases.