Charles Schwab Corp. plans to launch its first family of proprietary exchange-traded funds.
The San Francisco company said at a news conference in New York that its first four ETFs will begin trading today with four more to follow in December. The funds will have expense ratios ranging from 8 basis points to 35 points and offer commission-free online trading.
Walter W. Bettinger, Schwab's chief executive, said the commission-free online trading will be a "game changing" move in the ETF market. Peter Crawford, a senior vice president of investment management services client solutions, said that the company plans to introduce a broad marketing campaign to support the ETF family.
