Why are there contradicting price diagrams for the same ETF?

Question

I'm an absolute beginner to investing. I'm currently looking into the "iShares Core MSCI World UCITS" ETF tracking the MSCI World Index.

The iShares Website shows how over the past 5 years the ETF's value moved exactly the same as the underlying index, increasing by 31%:

Business Insider contradicts this, saying the index only went up 23%:

I looked up the ETF's identifier (IE00B4L5Y983) on my bank's website. Their 5-year chart shows a price increase from 45 to 71 EUR, about 57%:

What is going on here? I know there will be slight inaccuracies between different exchanges and the ETF versus the actual index. But 23% and 57% is a huge difference!

Answer 1

The ETF in question is iShares Core MSCI World UCITS ETF USD (Accumulating). Since it is an accumulating ETF, dividends are automatically reinvested.

The MSCI Index Methodology says:

MSCI country and regional equity Indexes are calculated in “local currency” as well as in USD, with price, gross and net returns.

Therefore, one possible source of discrepancy between the iShares website and Business Insider is that Business Insider is probably showing the price return version of the index, which omits returns from dividend reinvestment. The ETF is probably tracking the net total return version of the index, which includes returns from dividend reinvestment.

As for the discrepancy between the iShares website and that of your bank, it could be because your bank is showing prices in Euros. Changes in the EUR-USD exchange rate could make the percentage returns in EUR different from the returns in USD.

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The charts below are from the MSCI end of day index data search. They show monthly return data for the MSCI World Index for about 5 years from 2017-11-30 to 2022-10-31. The base value of each chart is 100.

Price return index (USD):

Net total return index (USD):

Net total return index (EUR):

Indeed, the numbers are consistent with what you observed on the three websites you used.