Yet another mutual fund manager is making moves to enter the ETF space. Last Wednesday, Charles Schwab filed with the SEC detailed plans for nine ETFs. Schwab first filed for exemption with the SEC in January of this year.

The three international offerings include the International Equity, the International Small-Cap and the Emerging Markets Equity ETFs.The International Equity Fund will track the FTSE Developed ex-US Index, which tracks over 1,300 stocks in 23 developed countries. The International Small-Cap Equity fund will follow the FTSE Developed Small Cap ex-US Liquid Index, which represents 1820 stocks in 23 developed countries. The Emerging Markets Equity fund will seek to match the total return of the FTSE All-emerging Index, which includes 824 large and mid cap companies in 23 emerging market countries.

As for its six domestic offerings, Schwab looks to add a Schwab US Broad Market, Large-Cap, Large-Cap Growth, Large-Cap Value, Mid-Cap and Small-Cap fund . The funds will track the Dow Jones' US Broad Stock Market, US Large Cap Total Stock Market, US Large Cap Growth Total Stock Market, US Large-Cap Value Total Stock Market, US Mid Cap Total Stock Market, and US SMall Cap Total Stock Market indexes, respectively.

The filing did not contain any information regarding the proposed funds' pricing structure. The introduction of the nine ETFs comes on the heels of Schwab's agressive cost cutting measures in its passively managed mutual funds-- a move that a Schwab representative told the MFWire "could upend Vanguard's buisiness model if they matched it." (see the MFWire, 5/6/2009). 

Edited by: Meredith Mazzilli


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