State Street Global Advisors, the Boston-based firm behind the world’s-biggest ETF, launched the SPDR S&P Emerging Markets Dividend ETF (NYSEArca: EDIV) and the SPDR Barclays Capital Emerging Markets Local Bond ETF today (NYSEArca: EBND), the latest sign of an increasingly sophisticated and crowding developing-market investment universe.

While the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index Fund (NYSEArca: EEM) and the Vanguard Emerging Markets ETF (NYSEArca: VWO) still capture the lion’s share of assets, investors have started to demand more granular exposure that allows them to capture specific regions, countries, sectors and market capitalizations in the rapidly growing developing world.

The SPDR S&P Emerging Markets Dividend ETF is designed to track the S&P Emerging Markets Dividend Opportunities Index, which includes 100 of the highest-yielding emerging markets stocks based on market capitalization. EDIV has an annual expense ratio of 0.59 percent.

The SPDR Barclays Capital Emerging Markets Local Bond ETF is designed to track the Barclays Capital EM Local Currency Government Diversified Index. This index includes local currency government debt from 20 different emerging market countries with remaining maturities of at least one year. EBND has an expense ratio of 0.50 percent.

EDIV’s Competition

For EDIV, competition includes State Street’s own SPDR S&P Emerging Markets ETF (NYSEArca: GMM) and the SPDR S&P Emerging Markets Small Cap ETF (NYSEArca: EWX).

Apart from a host of single-country ETFs as well as VWO and EEM, which cost 0.22 percent and 0.69 percent, respectively, EDIV also faces competition from a number of other broad ETFs, including:

• WisdomTree Emerging Markets Equity Income Fund (NYSEArca: DEM) and the WisdomTree Emerging Markets SmallCap Dividend Fund (NYSEArca: DGS). The two WisdomTree funds both cost 0.63 percent.
• PowerShares FTSE RAFI Emerging Markets Portfolio (NYSEArca: PXH), which costs 0.85 percent.
• Schwab Emerging Markets Equity ETF (NYSEArca: SCHE), which costs 0.25 percent.
• Rydex MSCI Emerging Markets Equal Weight ETF (NYSEArca: EWEM), which costs 0.70 percent.

EBND’s Competition

EBND will be competing with two other emerging markets bond funds that own locally denominated debt, though its focus on shorter-maturity securities is likely to distinguish it from its competitors. Those two competing funds are:

• WisdomTree Emerging Markets Local Debt Fund (NYSEArca: ELD), which is more expensive than EBND at 0.55 percent. ELD has raked in money since its launch last summer, and now has about $612 million in assets.
• Market Vectors Emerging Markets Local Currency Bond ETF (NYSEArca: EMLC), which is 1 basis point cheaper than EBND at 0.49 percent.

Like ELD and EMLC, SSgA’s new fund EBND is a leap beyond the first-generation, dollar-denominated, emerging market debt funds such as the PowerShares Emerging Markets Sovereign Debt Portfolio (NYSEArca: PCY) or the JPMorgan USD Emerging Markets Bond Fund (NYSEArca: EMB).

SSgA, which launched the first U.S. exchange-traded fund, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEArca: SPY), in 1993, had $248.85 billion in U.S. ETF assets as of Feb. 23, according to data compiled by IndexUniverse.com. SPY’s assets totaled $88.20 billion at that time.