Products May 7, 2008

Schwab Offers First Actively Managed International Fund

Schwab Funds added its first actively managed international fund, called the Schwab International Core Equity Fund.

Reported by

The fund is designed to offer broad international equity exposure to help investors diversify their portfolios, Schwab said.

The company said it combines portfolio optimization strategies with systematic international stock research developed by the Schwab Center for Financial Research.

The company expects the fund to hold securities of between 100 and 200 companies, chosen from more than 6,000 securities in 32 countries, the company said. Its benchmark will be the MSCI EAFE Index, but in addition to EAFE countries, the fund will consider securities from 11 additional countries also evaluated by the international stock research.

The fund offers three share classes with expense ratios as follows:

Investor Shares (SICVX)—expense ratio of 1.10% and required minimum investment of $100;
Select Shares (SICSX)—expense ratio of 0.95% and required minimum investment of $50,000;
Institutional Shares (SICNX)—expense ratio of 0.86% and required minimum investment of $500,000.

The fund’s subscription period runs to May 29 with an offer of $10 per share, and the fund will begin operations on May 30.

For more information, go to www.schwab.com/icefund or call 1.800.448.2455.