On February 3, 2025, Vanguard cut fees on 168 share classes across 87 funds, including for 53 ETF share classes. Vanguard is the only U.S. issuer that has ETFs as a share class of its mutual funds.
As one of the world’s largest asset managers, Vanguard’s move will pass on significant savings to investors while also putting significant margin pressure on ETF competitors. However, the implications for the ETF industry will vary by ETF category. Table 1 summarizes the broad categories in which Vanguard cut fees as well as the current leaders in those categories based on net assets and lowest expense ratios.
In some ETF categories, Vanguard is already the lowest-cost provider and has ETFs with the highest net assets. In these areas, fee cuts will be an opportunity to…
