The folks at a publicly traded brokerage giant's $1.4-trillion-AUM* asset management arm are cutting fees on a $67.123-billion-AUM** quartet of equity index ETFs and preparing to split the shares of a $166.457-billion-AUM** sextet of open-end equity index mutual funds.

On Monday (June 9), John Sturiale, head of product management and innovation at Charles Schwab Corporation's Schwab Asset Management [profile], revealed the Westlake, Texas-based firm's plans for the fee changes and share splits. The fee changes took effect the next day (Tuesday, June 10), while the share splits are scheduled to take effect on August 15.

This week's price reductions affected four Schwab ETFs:

the $4.198 billion-AUM** Schwab 1000 Index ETF (SCHK on the NYSE Arca, Inc.)), expense ratio dropped from 5 basis points to 3 basis points (inception date, October 11, 2017);

the $10.183-billion-AUM** Schwab Emerging Markets Equity ETF (SCHE), expense ratio dropped from 11bps to 7bps (inception date, January 14, 2010);

the $48.29-billion-AUM** Schwab International Equity ETF (SCHF), expense ratio dropped from 6bps to 3bps (inception date, November 3, 2009); and

the $4.452-billion-AUM** Schwab International Small-Cap Equity ETF (SCHC), expense ratio dropped from 11bps to 8bps (inception date, January 14, 2010).

"Pricing on the 4 ETFs had not changed since mid-2021," a spokesperson for Schwab AM tells MFWire.

The planned summer forward share splits are expected to affect six Schwab funds:

the $18.24-billion-AUM** Schwab 1000 Index Fund (SNXFX), 10-1 split (shareholders will receive ten new shares for each one they currently own) (inception date, April 2, 1991);

the $114.022-billion-AUM** Schwab S&P 500 Index Fund (SWPPX), 6-1 (inception date, May 19, 1997);

the $27.854-billion-AUM** Schwab Total Stock Market Index Fund (SWTSX), 7-1 (inception date, June 1, 1999);

the $3.481-billion-AUM** Schwab U.S. Large-Cap Growth Index Fund (SWLGX), 8-1 (inception date, December 20, 2017);

the $823-million-AUM** Schwab U.S. Large-Cap Value Index Fund (SWLVX), 4-1 (inception date, December 20, 2017); and

the $2.037-billion-AUM** Schwab U.S. Mid-Cap Index Fund (SWMCX), 5-1 (inception date, December 20, 2017).

Charles Schwab Investment Management, Inc. (dba Schwab Asset Management) serves as invesmtent advisor to all of the affected ETFs and funds.

Sturiale puts the ETF fee cuts in the context of what he describes as the Schwab AM's team's constant search "for new opportunities to make investing as accessible as possible."

"Today, we're taking another important step in advancing our commitment to providing investors with low-cost, high-quality building blocks for a well-diversified portfolio," Sturiale states.

Brooke Southall and Rogers Crowley of RIABiz note that the expense ratio drop for one of the ETFs, SCHF, will make it cheaper than comparable ETFs from Vanguard and BlackRock. The take of their sources is that the ETF fee cuts will help Schwab's thousands of RIA custody clients in the fold. By RIABiz's count, the four fee cuts translate into nearly $20 million in annual revenue reduction from the ETFs.

"They appear to have decided that reducing ETF product revenues is worthwhile if, in doing so, they can attract new advisory relationships," Scott MacKillop, former CEO of First Ascent Asset Management and board member at the Institute for the Fiduciary Standard, reportedly tells RIABiz. "This seems like a wise trade-off."

A spokesperson for Schwab AM notes that the fund firm now has $595 billion in AUM* in index mutual funds and ETFs, offering more than 100 funds in total.

*As of March 31, 2025.
**As of yesterday (June 11, 2025). 

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