Schwab Expands Commission-Free ETF Lineup

Charles Schwab Corp. SCHW, one of the largest discount brokerage firms, expanded its Schwab ETF OneSource commission-free platform Wednesday with addition 12 exchange-traded funds.

The move intensifies a heated competition between Schwab and rivals such as Fidelity and TD Ameritrade Corp. AMTD to offer the most expansive lineup of ETFs on a commission-free basis.

Seven of the 16 ETF sponsors currently on the OneSource platform account for 12 ETFs added. Those seven issuers are Deutsche Asset Management, Global X Funds, Guggenheim Investments, IndexIQ, PIMCO, State Street Global Advisors SPDR ETFs and WisdomTree Investments Inc. WETF.

Check out this comparison of the online brokerage space.

The New Additions

Deutsche's additions to OneSource are the Xtrackers MSCI All China Equity ETF CN and the Xtrackers MSCI Germany Hedged Equity ETF DBGR. WisdomTree added the WisdomTree Emerging Markets ex-State-Owned Enterprises Fund XSOE while Global X added the Global X U.S. Preferred ETF PFFD.

“Notably, PIMCO is doubling the amount of ETFs they offer with the addition of three multi-factor products,” according to a statement issued by Schwab.

State Street and Guggenheim each added two ETFs to OneSource while IndexIQ added the IQ Chaikin U.S. Small Cap ETF CSML, one of 2017's most successful new ETFs.

Investors Love It

Just as they love low fees on ETFs, investors also love not having to pay commissions. Data confirm as much.

“Assets in Schwab ETF OneSource surpassed $100 billion as of November 30, 2017, growing by 47% in 2017,” according to Schwab. “November year-to-date flows into ETFs in the program are $21.5 billion, representing 49% of the total ETF flows at Schwab.”

There are now 254 ETFs available on OneSource. Last year, more than 30 ETFs were added to the OneSource platform, including five Oppenheimer funds. All of Schwab's ETFs are available to clients on the OneSource offering.

Related Links:

Italy ETF Looks For A 2018 Encore

A Sound Idea Among Value ETFs