Charles Schwab Investment Management today announced that six new fundamentally weighted exchange-traded funds will begin trading next week. The funds will track the Russell Fundamental Index Series that’s based on strategies developed by Research Affiliates LLC. Schwab already has five fundamental index mutual funds, which had $4.5 billion in assets under management through June 30.
The new ETFs will be added to the Schwab ETF OneSource platform and will trade commission-free online in Schwab accounts starting August 15. The funds’ expense ratios won’t match the rock-bottom fee levels of Schwab's existing 15 proprietary ETFs, but they will be competitively priced, Marie Chandoha, president of CSIM, said during a press call.
“They will be higher than our cap-weighted ETFs because the costs to manage them are higher,” she said.
The following four funds will have operating expense ratios of 0.32 percent:
· Schwab Fundamental U.S. Broad Market Index ETF (FNDB), which tracks the Russell Fundamental U.S. Index
· Schwab Fundamental U.S. Large Company Index ETF (FNDX), which tracks the Russell Fundamental U.S. Large Company Index
· Schwab Fundamental U.S. Small Company Index ETF (FNDA), which tracks the Russell Fundamental U.S. Small Company Index
· Schwab Fundamental International Large Company Index ETF (FNDF), which tracks the Russell Fundamental Developed ex-U.S. Large Company Index
The following two funds will sport expense ratios of 0.46 percent:
· Schwab Fundamental International Small Company Index ETF (FNDC), which tracks the Russell Fundamental Developed ex-U.S. Small Company Index