| 02 November 2009

Charles Schwab Corp (SCHW) filed for its first round of ETFs back in July and we knew back then to expect some index-tracking ETFs under the Schwab monicker. We also suspected that Schwab would keep fees low on the products. What we didn't expect to see is the offer to let Schwab customers trade the products commission-free.

The firm announced today that the first round of ETFs would be unleashed tomorrow and early reports indicate the products' expenses will compete and beat those of rival ETF providers Barclays (BCS) and State Street (STT) and that, yes, Schwab account holders can trade the products all they like without cost.

Rival Fidelity has thus far indicated it's not interested in competing on private-label ETF products.  TD Ameritrade (AMTD), however, has indicated an interest in launching a new family of ETFs.

E*TRADE (ETFC) does not offer its own line of ETFs and recently closed four index mutual funds which have fallen out of favor. Compared with mutual funds, ETF index products offer lower costs and faster execution.