ZSP (BMO S&P 500 Index ETF) is BMO’s flagship Canadian-listed S&P 500 product. At a 0.09% MER it sits one basis point above Vanguard’s VFV (0.08%) and level with iShares’ XUS (0.09%). This review covers what ZSP holds, what it costs, how it has performed and how it compares with the other S&P 500 funds Canadians can buy. It is general education, not financial advice.
ZSP and VFV track the same index in Canadian dollars. For Canadian equity, see the XIC review. For one-fund diversification, see XEQT or VEQT. The full ETF universe is in Best Canadian ETFs 2026, and YieldMaple’s complete Wealthsimple guide covers the brokerage side.
ZSP at a glance
YieldMaple checked BMO’s ZSP fact sheet on October 6, 2026. The fund figures below are BMO’s, dated August 31, 2026.
| Detail | ZSP |
|---|---|
| Ticker | ZSP (TSX, CAD) / ZSP.U (TSX, USD) |
| MER | 0.09% |
| Index tracked | S&P 500 |
| Securities held | 505 |
| Net assets | $24.4 billion |
| Distributions | quarterly |
| Annualized distribution yield | 0.81% |
| 1-year return | 21.18% |
| 10-year annualized return | 15.61% |
| Annualized return since inception | 17.73% |
| Inception | November 14, 2012 |
| Currency hedging | None (ZUE is the hedged version) |
| Risk rating | medium |
| Provider | BMO Global Asset Management |
In sentences: ZSP charges a 0.09% MER, held 505 securities and $24.4 billion in net assets, and pays distributions quarterly at an annualized yield of 0.81%. It returned 21.18% over one year, 15.61% a year over 10 years and 17.73% a year since it launched on November 14, 2012, the same month as VFV (November 2, 2012). Returns are net of fees with distributions reinvested, and past performance is not a guide to future performance.
On a holding of $10,000, a 0.09% MER works out to about $9 a year. It is taken out of the fund’s net asset value over the year, not billed separately.
What does ZSP hold?
ZSP holds the stocks in the S&P 500 index directly: 505 securities on August 31, 2026, in the same proportions as the index. BMO’s fact sheet lists these as the ten largest positions:
- NVIDIA: 8.08%
- Apple: 7.04%
- Microsoft: 5.70%
- Amazon: 3.84%
- Alphabet Class A: 3.01%
- Broadcom: 2.65%
- Alphabet Class C: 2.40%
- Meta Platforms: 1.90%
- Micron Technology: 1.63%
- Tesla: 1.56%
Together those ten positions were about 37.8% of the fund. That is the concentration to be aware of: more than a third of ZSP rides on ten positions in nine companies.
By sector, Information Technology was the largest slice at 37.84%, followed in order by Financials, Communication Services, Health Care, Consumer Discretionary and Industrials, with Consumer Staples, Energy, Utilities, Materials and Real Estate making up the rest. By country, 97.55% of the fund was in United States companies; the remainder is S&P 500 members domiciled elsewhere, such as Ireland.
Any S&P 500 fund has the same exposure, because the index sets the weights. Holdings and weights change over time.
ZSP vs VFV: which S&P 500 ETF costs less?
VFV costs less on paper: its MER is 0.08% against 0.09% for ZSP. On $10,000 that gap is about $1 a year.
The results have been close to identical. Over the 10 years to August 31, 2026, ZSP returned 15.61% a year and VFV 15.62%. Over one year ZSP returned 21.18% and VFV 21.08%.
The structural difference: ZSP holds the index’s stocks directly, while VFV invests mainly in Vanguard’s US-listed S&P 500 ETF. Both trade in Canadian dollars on the TSX, both are unhedged, and both pay quarterly distributions.
Where ZSP has the edge:
- Direct ownership of the underlying stocks
- A US dollar version (ZSP.U) of the same fund
- $0 per stock or ETF trade on Canadian and US exchanges, online or agent-assisted at BMO InvestorLine Self-Directed, for investors who already bank with BMO
Where VFV has the edge:
- The lower MER (0.08%)
- The larger fund: $36.2 billion in total assets against $24.4 billion for ZSP
On a given day, the bid/ask spread on an order can matter more than a one-basis-point fee gap. The guide to buying an S&P 500 ETF at Wealthsimple walks through order placement for either fund.
ZSP vs alternatives
ZSP vs ZSP.U (USD version)
ZSP trades in Canadian dollars; ZSP.U is the same portfolio at the same 0.09% MER, trading in US dollars on the TSX. ZSP.U fits investors who:
- already hold US dollar cash in a brokerage account
- want to keep that cash in US dollars instead of converting it to Canadian dollars
For money that starts in Canadian dollars, the regular ZSP units skip the conversion step entirely.
ZSP vs ZUE
ZUE (BMO S&P 500 Hedged to CAD Index ETF) charges the same 0.09% MER and hedges the US dollar exposure back to Canadian dollars. It gets its stock exposure by holding ZSP: 98.91% of ZUE was invested in ZSP on August 31, 2026.
Over the 10 years to that date, ZSP returned 15.61% a year and ZUE 13.50%, a gap of about 2.1 percentage points a year in favour of the unhedged fund. Over one year it was 21.18% against 17.62%. Hedging removes currency swings in both directions, so the gap would reverse in a period when the Canadian dollar strengthens against the US dollar.
ZSP vs XUS
XUS (iShares Core S&P 500 Index ETF) charges the same 0.09% MER as ZSP. The differences are structural: XUS holds one fund, the US-listed iShares Core S&P ETF Trust, plus a little cash, and it pays distributions twice a year (semi-annual) where ZSP pays quarterly.
ZSP vs VOO
VOO is Vanguard’s US-listed S&P 500 ETF. It trades in US dollars, and for a Canadian the comparison has three parts:
- Fees: VOO’s expense ratio is 0.03% against ZSP’s 0.09%. On $10,000 the difference is about $6 a year.
- Currency: buying VOO takes US dollars. Wealthsimple’s conversion fee from a Canadian-dollar account is 1.5%, which on $10,000 is about $150 each way. At that fee saving, one conversion takes about 25 years to earn back.
- Withholding tax: US tax on dividends paid to Canadian residents is capped at 15% under the Canada–US tax treaty. Under the same treaty, dividends paid to a retirement plan such as an RRSP are exempt from US tax, as long as the plan is operated exclusively to provide pension, retirement or employee benefits. That exemption reaches VOO held directly in an RRSP. It does not reach ZSP, because the tax is withheld before the dividends arrive at the Canadian fund.
For ZSP, a rough size for that withholding: with a distribution yield of 0.81%, the tax withheld is in the range of 0.14% of the holding a year.
Can ZSP and VFV be swapped for tax-loss harvesting?
The CRA’s capital gains guide (T4037) does not say whether two ETFs from different managers that track the same index count as “identical property”, so the swap is not a settled question. What the guide does say: a loss is a superficial loss if the same or identical property is bought in the window from 30 calendar days before the sale to 30 calendar days after it, and a superficial loss is not deductible in that year; the loss is usually added to the adjusted cost base of the repurchased property.
T4037 describes identical properties as those where “each property in the group is the same as all the others”, and gives units of a mutual fund trust as a common example. ZSP and VFV are separate trusts run by separate managers, but they follow the same index, and that is exactly where the uncertainty sits. An accountant can say how the rule applies to a specific pair of funds.
The rule only matters in non-registered accounts. Losses inside a TFSA, RRSP or FHSA can’t be claimed at all. The Canadian tax optimization guide covers the superficial loss rule in more detail.
Which accounts can hold ZSP?
ZSP can be held in registered and non-registered accounts; BMO’s fact sheet lists it as RSP-eligible. The US withholding tax on its dividends is taken at the fund level, so it is the same in every account type.
| Account type | Notes |
|---|---|
| TFSA | US withholding tax applies at the fund level and can’t be recovered. Growth and withdrawals are tax-free. |
| RRSP | Same fund-level withholding. The treaty exemption needs a US-listed fund held directly. |
| FHSA | Same fund-level withholding as a TFSA. |
| RESP | Same fund-level withholding. |
| Non-registered | Distributions are taxable each year. The CRA offers a federal foreign tax credit (line 40500) for foreign tax paid on income you report on your Canadian return. |
In sentences: the treaty-rate withholding of 15% on ZSP’s US dividends happens before the fund receives them, so a TFSA, RRSP, FHSA and RESP all see the same net distribution. In a non-registered account the distributions are taxable income, and the foreign tax paid may be claimed as a credit.
Common ZSP mistakes
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Buying both ZSP and VFV for diversification. They track the same index. Owning both doubles up on the same stocks.
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Assuming ZUE and ZSP behave the same. ZUE is ZSP plus a currency hedge. Over the 10 years to August 31, 2026 that hedge left ZUE at 13.50% a year against 15.61% for ZSP.
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Treating ZSP as a complete portfolio. 97.55% of the fund is in United States companies. There is no Canadian, international or bond allocation.
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Leaving distributions in cash. ZSP pays quarterly, and the fund is DRIP-eligible. Cash that isn’t reinvested stops compounding with the fund.
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Expecting a smooth ride. BMO rates ZSP’s risk as medium. A fund that returned 21.18% in one year can fall sharply in another, and past returns don’t predict future ones.
Bottom line
ZSP is a low-cost, very large Canadian-listed S&P 500 ETF: 0.09% MER, $24.4 billion in net assets and 505 directly held securities. VFV tracks the same index at 0.08%, and the two funds’ 10-year returns have been within a hundredth of a percentage point of each other.
ZSP fits a reader who wants US large-cap exposure in Canadian dollars and values direct stock ownership or a US dollar twin. VFV fits a reader who wants the lower MER of the two. A reader who wants Canadian, international and emerging-market stocks alongside the US can pair either fund with other ETFs, or look at a one-ticker fund such as XEQT.
ZSP trades for $0 commission at Wealthsimple, and Questrade charges $0 to buy and sell Canadian and U.S.-listed stocks and ETFs.
Read next
- Best Canadian ETFs — full landscape
- VFV Review — the Vanguard equivalent
- XEQT Review — for one-ticker global exposure
- VFV vs XEQT — US-only vs global
- How to buy ETFs in Canada — order placement