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Prospectus | December 20, 2024
Schwab® ETFs
Schwab® High Yield Bond ETF
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Ticker Symbol
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SCYB
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Principal U.S. Listing Exchange: NYSE Arca, Inc.
As with all exchange-traded funds, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has not approved these securities or passed on whether the information in this prospectus is adequate and accurate. Anyone who indicates otherwise is committing a federal crime.
Schwab High Yield Bond ETF
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The fund’s goal is to track as closely as possible, before fees and expenses, the total return of an index that measures the performance of U.S. dollar denominated below investment grade corporate debt.
This table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and Example below.
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(1)
(2)
This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all of your shares at the end of those time periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Your actual costs may be higher or lower.
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The fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in the annual fund operating
expenses or in the example, affect the fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 24 % of the average value of its portfolio.
To pursue its goal, the fund generally invests in securities that are included in the ICE BofA US Cash Pay High Yield Constrained Index†. ICE BofA US Cash Pay High Yield Constrained Index tracks the performance of U.S. dollar denominated below investment grade corporate debt (junk bonds), currently in a coupon paying period, that is publicly issued in the U.S. domestic market. Qualifying securities must have a below investment grade rating (based on an average of Moody’s, S&P and Fitch), at least 18 months to final maturity at the time of issuance, at least one year remaining term to final maturity as of the rebalancing date, a fixed coupon schedule and a minimum amount outstanding of $250 million. In addition, qualifying securities must have risk exposure to countries that are members of the FX-G10, Western Europe or territories of the U.S. and Western Europe. The FX-G10 includes all Euro members, the U.S., Japan, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Norway and Sweden. Securities included in the index, are, among others, Rule 144A securities (both with and without registration rights), callable perpetual securities (at least one year from the first call date), and fixed-to-floating rate securities (callable within the fixed rate period and are at least one year from the last call prior to the date the bond transitions from a fixed to a floating rate security). The index excludes certain types of securities, including, among others, contingent capital securities, other hybrid capital securities, securities trading without accrued interest, deferred interest bonds, original issue zero coupon bonds, pay-in-kind bonds, and taxable and tax-exempt U.S. municipal securities. The securities in the index are updated on the last business day of each month.
It is the fund’s policy that under normal circumstances it will invest at least 80% of its net assets (including, for this purpose, any borrowings for investment purposes) in below investment grade bonds (based on an average of Moody’s, S&P and Fitch).
Under normal circumstances, the fund may invest up to 20% of its net assets in securities not included in its index. The principal types of these investments include those that the investment adviser believes will help the fund track the index, such as investments in (a) securities that are not represented in the index but the investment adviser anticipates will be added to the index; (b) high-quality liquid investments, such as securities issued by the U.S. government,
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“ICE®” is a registered trademark of ICE Data Indices, LLC or its affiliates and “BofA®” is a registered trademark of Bank of America Corporation licensed by Bank of America Corporation and its affiliates (“BofA”) and may not be used without BofA’s prior written approval. These trademarks have been licensed, along with the ICE BofA US Cash Pay High Yield Constrained Index (“Index”) for use by Charles Schwab Investment Management, Inc., dba Schwab Asset Management, in connection with the Schwab High Yield Bond ETF. The Schwab High Yield Bond ETF is not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by ICE Data Indices, LLC, its affiliates or its Third Party Suppliers (“ICE Data and its Suppliers”). ICE Data and its Suppliers make no representations or warranties regarding the advisability of investing in the Schwab High Yield Bond ETF.
Schwab High Yield Bond ETF | Fund Summary1
its agencies or instrumentalities, including obligations that are not guaranteed by the U.S. Treasury, and obligations that are issued by private issuers; (c) other investment companies; and (d) derivatives, principally futures contracts. The fund may use futures contracts and other derivatives primarily to help manage interest rate exposure. The fund may also invest in cash and cash equivalents, including money market funds, and lend its securities to minimize the difference in performance that naturally exists between an index fund and its corresponding index.
Because it may not be possible or practical to purchase all of the securities in the index, the investment adviser will seek to track the total return of the index by using sampling techniques. Sampling techniques involve investing in a limited number of index securities that, when taken together, are expected to perform similarly to the index as a whole. These techniques are based on a variety of factors, including interest rate and yield curve risk, maturity exposures, industry, sector and issuer weights, credit quality, and other risk factors and characteristics. The fund generally expects that its portfolio will hold less than the total number of securities in the index, but reserves the right to hold as many securities as it believes necessary to achieve the fund’s investment objective. The fund may sell securities that are represented in the index in anticipation of their removal from the index.
The fund will concentrate its investments (i.e., hold more than 25% of its total assets) in a particular industry, group of industries or sector to approximately the same extent that its index is so concentrated. For purposes of this limitation, securities of the U.S. government (including its agencies and instrumentalities), and repurchase agreements collateralized by U.S. government securities are not considered to be issued by members of any industry. Similarly, tax-exempt obligations of state or municipal governments and their political subdivisions are not considered to be issued by members of any industry.
Principal Risks
2Schwab High Yield Bond ETF | Fund Summary
For more information on the risks of investing in the fund, please see the “Fund Details” section in the prospectus.
Investment Adviser
Charles Schwab Investment Management, Inc., dba Schwab Asset Management®
Portfolio Managers
Matthew Hastings, CFA, Managing Director and Head of Bond Index Strategies, is responsible for the day-to-day co-management of the fund. He has managed the fund since 2023.
Ryan Hook, CFA, Senior Portfolio Manager, is responsible for the day-to-day co-management of the fund. He has managed the fund since 2023.
Steven Hung, Senior Portfolio Manager, is responsible for the day-to-day co-management of the fund. He has managed the fund since 2023.
Maxwell Brantley, CFA, Portfolio Manager, is responsible for the day-to-day co-management of the fund. He has managed the fund since 2024.
Olga Kislova, CFA, Portfolio Manager, is responsible for the day-to-day co-management of the fund. She has managed the fund since 2024.
Schwab High Yield Bond ETF | Fund Summary3
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The fund issues and redeems shares at its NAV only in large blocks of shares (Creation Units). These transactions are usually in exchange for a basket of securities included in the index and/or an amount of cash. As a practical matter, only Authorized Participants purchase or redeem Creation Units.
Individual shares may only be purchased and sold in the secondary market (i.e., on a national securities exchange) through a broker or dealer at market prices. Because fund shares trade at market prices rather than at NAV, fund shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (premium) or less than NAV (discount). When buying or selling shares in the secondary market, you may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the fund (ask) (the “bid-ask spread”). Recent information regarding the fund’s NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads is available at www.schwabassetmanagement.com.
Tax Information
Dividends and capital gains distributions received from the fund will generally be taxable as ordinary income or capital gains, unless you are investing through an IRA, 401(k) or other tax-advantaged account (in which case you may be taxed later, upon withdrawal of your investment from such account).
Payments to Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the adviser and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other financial intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
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About the Fund
The fund described in this prospectus is advised by Charles Schwab Investment Management, Inc., dba Schwab Asset Management (the investment adviser). The fund is an “exchange-traded fund” (ETF). ETFs are funds that trade like other publicly-traded securities. The fund is an index fund and is designed to track the total return of an index. Because the composition of an index tends to be comparatively stable, most index funds historically have shown low portfolio turnover compared to actively managed funds.
This strategy distinguishes an index fund from an “actively managed” fund. Instead of choosing investments for the fund based on portfolio management’s judgment, an index is used to determine which securities the fund should own.
Unlike shares of a mutual fund, shares of the fund are listed on a national securities exchange and trade at market prices that change throughout the day. The market price for the fund’s shares may be different from its net asset value per share (NAV). The fund has its own CUSIP number and trades on the NYSE Arca, Inc. under the following ticker:
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Schwab High Yield Bond ETF
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The fund issues and redeems shares at its NAV only in large blocks of shares (Creation Units). These transactions are usually in exchange for a basket of securities and/or an amount of cash. As a practical matter, only institutional investors who have entered into an authorized participant agreement (Authorized Participants) purchase or redeem Creation Units.
A Note to Retail Investors
Shares can be purchased directly from the fund only in exchange for a basket of securities and/or an amount of cash that is expected to be worth a minimum of a million dollars or more. Most individual investors, therefore, will not be able to purchase shares directly from the fund. Instead, these investors will purchase shares in the secondary market through a brokerage account or with the assistance of a broker. Thus, some of the information contained in this prospectus – such as information about purchasing and redeeming shares from the fund and references to transaction fees imposed on purchases and redemptions – is not relevant to most individual investors. Shares purchased or sold through a brokerage account or with the assistance of a broker may be subject to brokerage commissions and charges.
The fund’s performance will fluctuate over time and, as with all investments, future performance may differ from past performance.
Schwab High Yield Bond ETF | About the Fund5
Fund Details
There can be no assurance that the fund will achieve its objective. Except as explicitly described otherwise, the investment objective, strategies and policies of the fund may be changed without shareholder approval.
The principal investment strategies and the main risks associated with investing in the fund are summarized in the fund summary at the front of this prospectus. This section takes a more detailed look at some of the types of securities, the associated risks, and the various investment strategies that may be used in the day-to-day portfolio management of the fund, as described below. In addition to the particular types of securities and strategies that are described in this prospectus, the fund may use strategies that are not described herein in support of its overall investment goal. These additional strategies and the risks associated with them are described in the “Investment Objective, Strategies, Risks and Limitations” section in the Statement of Additional Information (SAI).
The fund reserves the right to substitute a different index for the index it currently tracks if the current index is discontinued, if the agreement with the sponsor of its current index is terminated or for any other reason determined in good faith by the fund’s Board of Trustees. In any such instance, the substitute index would represent the same market segment as the current index.
Investment Objective and More About Principal Risks
Investment Objective
The fund’s goal is to track as closely as possible, before fees and expenses, the total return of an index that measures the performance of U.S. dollar denominated below investment grade corporate debt. The fund’s investment objective is not fundamental and therefore may be changed by the fund’s Board of Trustees without shareholder approval.
More Information About Principal Investment Risks
The fund is subject to risks, any of which could cause an investor to lose money.
Market Risk. Financial markets rise and fall in response to a variety of factors, sometimes rapidly and unpredictably. Markets may be impacted by economic, political, regulatory and other conditions, including economic sanctions and other government actions. In addition, the occurrence of global events, such as war, terrorism, environmental disasters, natural disasters and epidemics, may also negatively affect the financial markets. These events could reduce consumer demand or economic output; result in market closures, changes in interest rates, inflation/deflation, travel restrictions or quarantines; and significantly adversely impact the economy. Governmental and quasi-governmental authorities and regulators throughout the world have in the past often responded to serious economic disruptions with a variety of significant fiscal and monetary policy changes which could have an unexpected impact on financial markets and the fund’s investments. As with any investment whose performance is tied to these markets, the value of an investment in the fund will fluctuate, which means that an investor could lose money over short or long periods.
Index-Related Risk. The index provider does not provide any warranty as to the timeliness, accuracy or completeness of any data relating to the index. Errors relating to the index, including index data, computations and/or construction, may occur from time to time and may not be identified by the index provider for a period of time or at all. Losses resulting from index errors may be borne by the fund and its shareholders. In addition, there can be no guarantee that the index will operate as intended during volatile market conditions or over the course of a full market cycle.
In addition, market disruptions could cause delays in the index’s rebalancing schedule which may result in the index and, in turn, the fund experiencing returns different than those that would have been achieved under a normal rebalancing schedule.
Interest Rate Risk. Interest rates rise and fall over time. As with any investment whose yield reflects current interest rates, the fund’s yield will change over time. During periods when interest rates are low or there are negative interest rates, the fund’s yield (and total return) also may be low or the fund may be unable to maintain positive returns. Changes or the anticipation of changes in interest rates also may affect the fund’s share price: a rise in interest rates generally causes the fund’s share price to fall. This risk is greater when the fund holds fixed-income securities with longer maturities. The longer the fund’s portfolio duration, the more sensitive to interest rate movements its share price is likely to be. For example, a fund with a longer portfolio duration is more likely to experience a decrease in its share price as interest rates rise. Duration is an estimate of a security’s (or portfolio of securities) sensitivity to changes in prevailing interest rates that is based on certain factors that may prove to be incorrect. It is therefore not an exact measurement and may not be able to reliably predict a particular security’s price sensitivity to changes in interest rates.
Economic conditions and other factors, including a central bank’s monetary policy, may result in changes in interest rates, which could have sudden and unpredictable effects on the markets and significantly impact the value of fixed-income securities in which the fund invests. Rising interest rates may decrease liquidity in the fixed-income securities markets, making it more difficult for the fund to sell its fixed-income
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securities holdings at a time when the investment adviser might wish to sell such securities. In addition, decreased market liquidity also may make it more difficult to value some or all of the fund’s fixed-income securities holdings. Certain countries have experienced negative interest rates on certain fixed-income securities. Negative or very low interest rates could magnify the risks associated with changes in interest rates. In general, changing interest rates, including rates that fall below zero, could have unpredictable effects on markets and may expose fixed-income and related markets to heightened volatility. Inflation-protected securities may react differently to interest rate changes than other types of fixed-income securities and tend to react to changes in “real” interest rates.
Credit Risk. A decline in the credit quality of an issuer, guarantor or liquidity provider of a portfolio investment or a counterparty could cause the fund to lose money or underperform. The fund could lose money if, due to a decline in credit quality, the issuer, guarantor or liquidity provider of a portfolio investment or a counterparty fails to make, or is perceived as being unable or unwilling to make, timely principal or interest payments or otherwise honor its obligations. The credit quality of the fund’s portfolio holdings can change rapidly in certain market environments and any default on the part of a single portfolio investment could cause the fund’s share price or yield to fall. Certain U.S. government securities that the fund invests in are not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government, which means they are neither issued nor guaranteed by the U.S. Treasury. There can be no assurance that the U.S. government will provide financial support to securities of its agencies and instrumentalities if it is not obligated to do so under law. Also, any government guarantees on securities the fund owns do not extend to the shares of the fund itself.
High-Yield Risk. Funds that invest in high-yield securities and unrated securities of similar credit quality (junk bonds) may be subject to greater levels of credit and liquidity risk than funds that do not invest in such securities. These securities are considered predominately speculative with respect to the issuer’s continuing ability to make principal and interest payments. High-yield securities may be more volatile than higher-rated securities. An economic downturn or period of rising interest rates could adversely affect the market for these securities and reduce the fund’s ability to sell these securities (liquidity risk). If the issuer of a security is in default with respect to interest or principal payments, the fund may lose its entire investment. Because of the risks involved in investing in high-yield securities, an investment in a fund that invests in such securities should be considered speculative.
Tracking Error and Correlation Risk. As an index fund, the fund seeks to track the performance of the index, although it may not be successful in doing so. The divergence between the performance of the fund and the index, positive or negative, is called “tracking error.” Tracking error can be caused by many factors and it may be significant. For example, the fund may not invest in certain securities in the index, match the securities’ weighting to the index, or the fund may invest in securities not in the index, due to regulatory, operational, custodial or liquidity constraints; corporate transactions; asset valuations; transaction costs and timing; tax considerations; and index rebalancing, which may result in tracking error. The fund may attempt to offset the effects of not being invested in certain index securities by making substitute investments, but these efforts may not be successful. In certain circumstances, the fund may value individual securities based on fair value prices developed using methods approved by the fund’s Board of Trustees. To the extent the fund calculates its NAV based on fair value prices, the fund’s performance may diverge from that of its index. In addition, cash flows into and out of the fund, timing variances, operating expenses and trading costs all affect the ability of the fund to match the performance of the index, because the index does not have to manage cash flows and does not incur any costs. Lastly, differences between the fund’s portfolio and the index resulting from legal restrictions (such as diversification requirements) that apply to the fund but not to the index impact correlation between the performance of the fund and that of its index.
Non-U.S. Issuer Risk. The fund may invest in U.S.-registered, dollar-denominated bonds of non-U.S. corporations, governments, agencies and supra-national entities. Investments in bonds of non-U.S. issuers involve certain risks that are more significant than those associated with investments in securities of U.S. issuers. These include risks of adverse changes in foreign economic, political, regulatory and other conditions; the imposition of economic sanctions or other government restrictions; differing accounting, auditing, financial reporting and legal standards and practices; differing securities market structures; and higher transaction costs. In certain countries, non-U.S. issuers may be subject to less governmental regulation than U.S. issuers and legal remedies available to investors may be more limited than those available with respect to investments in the United States. The securities of some foreign companies may be less liquid and at times more volatile than securities of comparable U.S. companies. Moreover, individual foreign economies may differ favorably or unfavorably from the U.S. economy in such respects as growth of gross national product, rate of inflation, capital reinvestment, resource self-sufficiency and balance of payments position, and the prices of foreign bonds and the U.S. bonds have, at times, moved in opposite directions. Changes to the financial condition or credit rating of a non-U.S. issuer may also adversely affect the value of the non-U.S. issuer’s securities held by the fund. These risks may be heightened in connection with bonds issued by non-U.S. corporations and entities in emerging markets.
Privately Issued Securities Risk. The fund may invest in privately issued securities, including those that are normally purchased pursuant to Rule 144A under the 1933 Act. Privately issued securities are securities that have not been registered under the 1933 Act and as a result may be subject to legal restrictions on resale. Privately issued securities, including those purchased pursuant to Rule 144A under the 1933 Act, are generally not traded on established markets. Privately issued securities carry the risk that the liquidity of these securities may become impaired, making it more difficult for the fund to sell these bonds. Delay or difficulty in selling such securities may result in a loss to the fund.
Schwab High Yield Bond ETF | Fund Details7
Portfolio Turnover Risk. The fund may engage in frequent trading of its portfolio securities in connection with its tracking of the index or in response to market conditions. A portfolio turnover rate of 200%, for example, is equivalent to the fund buying and selling all of its securities two times during the course of the year. A high portfolio turnover rate (such as 100% or more) could result in high brokerage costs. A high portfolio turnover rate also can result in an increase in taxable capital gains distributions to the fund’s shareholders.
Prepayment and Extension Risk. Certain fixed-income securities are subject to the risk that the securities may be paid off earlier or later than expected, especially during periods of falling or rising interest rates, respectively. Rising interest rates tend to extend the duration of certain fixed-income securities, making them more sensitive to changes in interest rates. As a result, in a period of rising interest rates, the fund could exhibit additional volatility and hold securities paying lower-than-market rates of interest. This is known as extension risk. When interest rates decline, borrowers may pay off their fixed-income securities sooner than expected. This can reduce the fund’s returns because the fund will have to reinvest that money at the lower prevailing interest rates. In addition, prepayments and subsequent reinvestments increase the fund’s portfolio turnover rate. This is known as prepayment risk. Either situation could hurt the fund’s performance.
Derivatives Risk. The fund may invest in derivative instruments. The principal types of derivatives used by the fund are futures contracts. A futures contract is an agreement to buy or sell a financial instrument at a specific price on a specific day. The fund’s use of derivative instruments involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities and other traditional investments. Certain of these risks, such as market risk, credit risk, liquidity risk, leverage risk and operational risk, are discussed elsewhere in this prospectus. The fund’s use of derivatives is also subject to lack of availability risk, valuation risk, correlation risk and tax risk. Lack of availability risk is the risk that suitable derivative transactions may not be available in all circumstances for risk management or other purposes. Valuation risk is the risk that a particular derivative may be valued incorrectly. Correlation risk is the risk that changes in the value of the derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying asset, rate or index. Tax risk is the risk that the use of derivatives may cause the fund to realize higher amounts of short-term capital gains. The fund’s use of derivatives could reduce the fund’s performance, increase the fund’s volatility, and cause the fund to lose more than the initial amount invested. The fund’s use of derivatives also could create a risk of counterparty default under certain transactions, risks that the fund would need to liquidate portfolio positions when it may not be advantageous to do so in order to meet margin and payment obligations, and legal risks relating to insufficient documentation, insufficient capacity or authority of a counterparty, or legality or enforceability of a contract. Furthermore, the use of derivatives subject to regulation by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) could cause the fund to become a commodity pool, which would require the fund to comply with certain CFTC rules.
Liquidity Risk. Liquidity risk exists when particular investments may be difficult to purchase, sell or value, especially during stressed market conditions. The market for certain investments may become illiquid due to specific adverse changes in the conditions of a particular issuer or under adverse market or economic conditions independent of the issuer. In addition, limited dealer inventories of certain securities could potentially lead to decreased liquidity. In such cases, the fund, due to limitations on investments in illiquid securities and the difficulty in readily purchasing and selling such securities at favorable times or prices, may decline in value, experience lower returns and/or be unable to achieve its desired level of exposure to a certain issuer or sector. Further, transactions in illiquid securities may entail transaction costs that are higher than those for transactions in liquid securities.
Leverage Risk. Certain fund transactions, such as derivatives transactions, may give rise to a form of leverage and may expose the fund to greater risk. Leverage tends to magnify the effect of any decrease or increase in the value of the fund’s portfolio securities which means even a small amount of leverage can have a disproportionately large impact on the fund. The use of leverage may cause the fund to liquidate portfolio positions when it would not be advantageous to do so in order to satisfy its obligations.
Securities Lending Risk. The fund may lend its portfolio securities to brokers, dealers, and other financial institutions provided a number of conditions are satisfied, including that the loan is fully collateralized. When the fund lends portfolio securities, its investment performance will continue to reflect changes in the value of the securities loaned, and the fund will also receive a fee or interest on the collateral. Securities lending involves the risk of loss of rights in, or delay in recovery of, the loaned securities if the borrower fails to return the security loaned or becomes insolvent. The fund will also bear the risk of any decline in value of securities acquired with cash collateral. The fund may pay lending fees to a party arranging the loan.
Operational Risk. The fund is exposed to operational risk arising from a number of factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the fund’s service providers, counterparties or other third parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or system failures. The fund seeks to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures believed to be reasonably designed to address these risks. However, these controls and procedures cannot address every possible risk and may not fully mitigate the risks that they are intended to address.
Market Trading Risk. Although fund shares are listed on national securities exchanges, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for fund shares will develop or be maintained. If an active market is not maintained, investors may find it difficult to buy or sell fund shares. Trading of shares of the fund on a national securities exchange may be halted if exchange officials deem such action appropriate, if the fund is delisted, or if the activation of marketwide “circuit breakers” halts stock trading generally. If the fund’s shares are delisted, the fund may seek to list its shares on another market, merge with another ETF, or redeem its shares at NAV.
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Shares of the Fund May Trade at Prices Other Than NAV. As with all ETFs, fund shares may be bought and sold in the secondary market at market prices. Although it is expected that the market price of the shares of the fund will approximate the fund’s NAV, there may be times when the market price and the NAV vary significantly. Thus, an investor may pay more than NAV when buying shares of the fund in the secondary market, and an investor may receive less than NAV when selling those shares in the secondary market. The investment adviser cannot predict whether shares will trade above (premium), below (discount) or at NAV. The fund may have a limited number of financial institutions that may act as “Authorized Participants” or market makers. Only Authorized Participants who have entered into agreements with the fund’s distributor may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the fund (as discussed in the “Creation and Redemption” section below). If those Authorized Participants exit the business or are unable to process creation and/or redemption orders (including in situations where Authorized Participants have limited or diminished access to capital required to post collateral), and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create and/or redeem, fund shares may trade at a premium or discount to NAV like closed-end fund shares (and may even face delisting). Similar effects may result if market makers exit the business or are unable to continue making markets in the fund’s shares. Risks associated with having a limited number of Authorized Participants may be heightened for ETFs that invest in securities issued by non-U.S. issuers or other instruments that have lower trading volumes. More generally, market makers are not obligated to make a market in the fund’s shares, and Authorized Participants are not obligated to submit purchase or redemption orders for Creation Units. Further, while the creation/redemption feature is designed to make it likely that shares normally will trade close to the value of the fund’s holdings, disruptions to creations and/or redemptions, including disruptions at market makers, Authorized Participants or market participants, or during periods of significant market volatility, may result in market prices that differ significantly from the value of the fund’s holdings. In addition, transactions by large shareholders may account for a large percentage of trading volume on the fund’s primary listing exchange and may, therefore, have a material effect on the market price of the fund’s shares.
The market price of fund shares during the trading day, like the price of any exchange-traded security, may be impacted by a “bid/ask” spread. The bid/ask spread is the difference between what investors are willing to pay for fund shares (the “bid” price) and the price at which investors are willing to sell fund shares (the “ask” price). The spread may vary over time and is based on many factors including supply and demand for the underlying securities held by the fund, supply and demand for shares of the fund itself, and the historical and current magnitude of price fluctuation of the fund’s asset class. The spread is generally narrower if the fund has higher trading volume and wider if the fund has lower trading volume (which may be the case for funds that are newly launched or small in size). Bid/ask spreads may also be wider during times of higher market volatility. At those times, fund shares are most likely to be traded at a discount to NAV, and the discount is likely to be greatest when the price of shares is falling fastest, which may be the time that investors most want to sell shares.
There are various methods by which investors can purchase and sell shares of the fund and various types of orders that may be placed. Investors should consult their financial intermediary before purchasing or selling shares of the fund.
Money Market Fund Risk. An investment by the fund in an underlying money market fund has risks. The fund may invest in underlying money market funds that seek to maintain a stable $1.00 NAV. Although an underlying money market fund seeks to maintain a stable $1.00 NAV, it is possible to lose money by investing in such a money market fund. In addition, money market funds are not designed to offer capital appreciation. In exchange for their emphasis on stability and liquidity, money market investments may offer lower long-term performance than stock or bond investments. Certain underlying money market funds may impose a fee upon the sale of shares under certain circumstances.
Maturity and Duration: A Brief Explanation
“Maturity” and “duration” are concepts generally associated with fixed-income investments, such as bonds, and, as an investor or potential investor in a fixed-income fund, it is important that you have a basic understanding of each concept and how each relates to your investment. The following discussion about maturity and duration will also help you understand how bond prices – and, by extension, the share price of a fund that invests in bonds – can be expected to change given a change in interest rates.
Maturity and Duration – The Basics
A BOND is a loan between an issuer and a bondholder that obligates the issuer to pay the bondholder a specified sum of money, usually at specific intervals, over a specified period of time. More specifically, in exchange for the loan amount, or PRINCIPAL, a bondholder receives INTEREST – or COUPON – payments from the issuer as compensation for the use – or borrowing – of the bondholder’s principal for a specific period of time. “ISSUERS” may include entities such as corporations, governments, government agencies and municipalities, while “BONDHOLDERS” may include, but are not limited to, mutual funds or ETFs, banks, insurance companies and individuals.
In addition to the coupon payments that an issuer is obligated to pay a bondholder, the issuer is also obligated to repay the principal amount at “maturity.” A bond’s MATURITY represents when the final principal payment of a bond is scheduled to be repaid. Simply, it is the period of time until a bondholder can expect to receive all of its money, or principal, back from the issuer. A bond’s MATURITY DATE is the specific date by which the entire principal amount is to be repaid.
Schwab High Yield Bond ETF | Fund Details9
DURATION is a measure that estimates the sensitivity of a bond’s price relative to interest rate changes. Duration is often expressed as a period of time (i.e., 6 months, 1 year, 2.5 years, etc.). Generally, a lower duration indicates a lower sensitivity to changes in interest rates, and a higher duration indicates a higher sensitivity to changes in interest rates. Unlike maturity, which only measures the time until final payment of principal, duration considers the timing and pattern of interest and principal payments. Because different factors are considered when calculating maturity and duration, a bond’s duration is often shorter than its maturity and can at times be significantly shorter than the maturity. A characteristic of duration is that as interest rates decline, duration tends to increase. For municipal and mortgage-backed securities, duration may also increase when interest rates increase.
When thinking about the concepts of maturity and duration, there are two common risks1 generally associated with fixed-income investments that are important to consider. The first relates to maturity: there is risk that an issuer may be unable to repay the principal due. Usually, this risk increases with time. Bondholders typically have greater transparency with respect to an issuer’s ability to repay a loan over shorter time horizons, while assessing the future becomes more difficult as the periods get longer. As a result, bonds with longer maturities tend to carry higher repayment risk than bonds with shorter maturities. This is one reason why longer-maturity bonds typically pay higher interest rates than shorter-maturity bonds. Similarly, funds that invest in bonds with longer maturities are subject to higher repayment risk, but will typically pay higher dividends than funds that invest in bonds with shorter maturities.
The second risk relates to the impact of interest rates on a bond’s price. Interest rates generally fluctuate; meaning, they can increase or decrease prior to a bond’s maturity date. This means that during an investor’s holding period, a bond’s coupon may be less than or greater than current market interest rates. To the extent a bond’s coupon is different from current market interest rates, a bond’s price will fall or rise to align with current market interest rates. Bond prices exhibit an inverse relationship relative to interest rates: when interest rates decline, bond prices increase and vice versa. For example, assume you purchased a new issue bond when interest rates were 4%. Now assume that since you purchased that bond interest rates increased by 1% to 5%. Keeping in mind that bond prices and interest rates have an inverse relationship – when interest rates increase, a bond’s price declines – the price of the purchased 4% coupon bond in this example would decline because bonds can now be purchased with 5% coupons making the 4% coupon bond less valuable.
More on Duration
While having a basic understanding of both maturity and duration is important for any fixed-income investor, maturity tends to be more straightforward than the concept of duration, which requires a bit more discussion. In its simplest terms, duration attempts to quantify and estimate how much a bond’s price can be expected to change in response to changing interest rates. Typically, duration increases as a bond’s maturity increases and decreases as a bond’s maturity decreases; meaning, longer-maturity bonds have higher durations than shorter-maturity bonds. With this in mind, remember that as duration increases, a bond’s sensitivity to changes in interest rates increases. That means that when interest rates increase:
•
Relative to longer duration bonds, shorter duration bonds would fall less in price because an investor’s principal would be repaid at the lower interest rate sooner.
•
Longer-duration bonds, on the other hand, would fall in price more than shorter-duration bonds, due to the longer horizon of holding bonds paying less interest than current interest rates.
So, when looking at the example above, where interest rates rose from 4% to 5%, the extent to which the 4% coupon bond would decline in price is dependent upon the bond’s duration – the longer the duration, the more it would decline in price. For example, a 4% coupon bond with a duration of 2 years would decline less in price than a 4% coupon bond with a duration of 4 years. This is true when assessing the extent to which any bond’s price may change when interest rates change.
Beyond providing a way to compare the relative interest rate sensitivity of bonds, duration attempts to estimate the expected change in a bond’s value should interest rates change by 1%. Again, recall the example above, where interest rates rose from 4% to 5%. Under this scenario, a bond with a 6 year duration would generally be expected to decline in price by approximately 6% (1% price move for each year of duration), while a bond with a 7 year duration would generally be expected to decline in price by approximately 7%. If the example above were reversed and interest rates instead declined by 1%, from 4% to 3%, the opposite would occur:
•
Relative to longer-duration bonds, shorter duration bonds would appreciate less in price; longer-duration bonds would appreciate more in price than shorter-duration bonds.
•
A bond with a 6 year duration would generally be expected to increase in value by approximately 6% (1% price move for each year of duration), while a bond, or bond fund, with a 7 year duration would generally be expected to increase in value by approximately 7%.
It is important to understand that a bond’s duration is not constant. As stated earlier, duration considers the timing and pattern of interest and principal payments. As time progresses, the period of time remaining until interest and principal payments are made changes, impacting the duration of a bond – as the time until those payments are made shortens, the duration also shortens. In addition, and as discussed
1
All investments are subject to risks, including risks not discussed in this section of the prospectus. Please refer to the risks disclosed elsewhere in this prospectus and the SAI to understand the risks of investing in the fund.
10Schwab High Yield Bond ETF | Fund Details
previously, duration is also impacted by interest rate changes. As such, duration is a gauge of a bond’s sensitivity to interest rate changes, but it should not be relied on as an exact measure of the price change if interest rates change.
Maturity and Duration – At the Fund Level
A fund that invests in bonds is impacted in the same way as the individual bond described in the examples above – as interest rates increase the value of fund shares will decline, and as interest rates decline the value of fund shares will increase. To provide investors with information about a fund’s interest rate risk exposure, the fund typically provides the average maturity and duration of the portfolio, which take into consideration the maturity and duration of all the fund’s fixed-income investments. A fund with a shorter portfolio average maturity and duration is expected to be less impacted by changing interest rates than a fund with a longer portfolio average maturity and duration. Simply stated, a fund with a shorter portfolio average maturity and duration is generally less volatile as a result of interest rate changes than a fund with a longer portfolio average maturity and duration.
In the same way that a bond’s duration is not constant, a fund’s portfolio average maturity and duration are not constant. A fund’s portfolio average duration will change as a result of duration changes to the bonds the fund owns, as described above. Further, both the average maturity and duration may change as the fund’s portfolio manager buys and/or sells bonds owned by the fund. To remain aware of the interest rate sensitivity of funds you own, it is helpful to periodically review the fund’s reported average portfolio maturity and duration.
Maturity and Duration – Other Fixed-Income Securities
The above discussion provides a general overview of the concepts of maturity and duration. Application and calculation of these concepts may be slightly different or become more complex when applied to other types of fixed-income securities, which may require different assessments to determine and/or calculate maturity and duration. For example, to calculate the duration for securitized investments, such as mortgage-backed securities and certain asset-backed securities, an investor must look-through to the instruments underlying the securities and must account for the pace of repayment of the underlying instruments. To learn more about maturity and duration for the specific types of fixed-income investments that the fund may invest in, please refer to the SAI.
Portfolio Holdings
A description of the fund’s policies and procedures with respect to the disclosure of the fund’s portfolio securities is available in the SAI.
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Financial Highlights
This section provides further details about the fund’s financial history for the past five years or, if shorter, for its period of operations. Certain information reflects financial results for a single fund share. “Total return” shows the percentage that an investor in the fund would have earned or lost during a given period, assuming all distributions were reinvested. The information has been audited by the fund’s independent registered public accounting firm, Deloitte & Touche LLP (Deloitte). Deloitte’s full report is included in the fund’s annual holdings and financial statements, which are included in each fund’s Form N-CSR (see back cover).
Schwab High Yield Bond ETF
| | | |
9/1/23–
8/31/24(1) |
| |
7/11/23(2) –
8/31/23(1) |
| | | | | | | | | | ||||||
| Per-Share Data | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Net asset value at beginning of period | | | | $ | 25.51 | | | | | $ | 25.00 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Income (loss) from investment operations: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|
Net investment income (loss)(3)
|
| | | | 2.01 | | | | | | 0.28 | | | | | | | | | | | |
|
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses)
|
| | | | 0.89 | | | | | | 0.23 | | | | | | | | | | | |
|
Total from investment operations
|
| | | | 2.90 | | | | | | 0.51 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Less distributions: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|
Distributions from net investment income
|
| | | | (1.96) | | | | | | – | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Net asset value at end of period | | | | $ | 26.45 | | | | | $ | 25.51 | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Total return | | | | | 11.95% | | | | | | 2.04%(4) | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Ratios/Supplemental Data | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Ratios to average net assets: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|
Total expenses
|
| | | | 0.03%(5) | | | | | | 0.10%(6) | | | | | | | | | | | |
|
Net investment income (loss)
|
| | | | 7.87% | | | | | | 7.88%(6) | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Portfolio turnover rate(7) | | | | | 24% | | | | | | 1%(4) | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Net assets, end of period (x 1,000) | | | | $ | 439,148 | | | | | $ | 45,918 | | | | | | | | | | | |
(1)
Per-Share Data has been retroactively adjusted to reflect a 2-for-1 share split effective after the close of U.S. markets on October 10, 2024.
(2)
Commencement of operations.
(3)
Calculated based on the average shares outstanding during the period.
(4)
Not annualized.
?
(5)
Effective September 25, 2023, the annual operating expense ratio was reduced to 0.03%. The ratio presented for the period ended August 31, 2024, is a blended ratio.
(6)
Annualized.
(7)
Portfolio turnover rate excludes securities received or delivered from processing of in-kind creations or redemptions.
12Schwab High Yield Bond ETF | Financial Highlights
Fund Management
The investment adviser for the fund is Charles Schwab Investment Management, Inc., dba Schwab Asset Management, 211 Main Street, San Francisco, CA 94105. The investment adviser was founded in 1989 and as of October 31, 2024, managed approximately $1.3 trillion in assets.
The investment adviser oversees the asset management and administration of the fund. Effective September 25, 2023, as compensation for these services, the investment adviser receives a management fee of 0.03% of the average daily net assets of the fund. Prior to September 25, 2023, as compensation for these services, the investment adviser received a management fee of 0.10% of the average daily net assets of the fund. For the 12 months ended August 31, 2024, these fees were 0.03% for the fund. This figure, which is expressed as a percentage of the fund’s average daily net assets, represents the actual amount paid.
Pursuant to an Amended and Restated Advisory Agreement between the investment adviser and Schwab Strategic Trust, on behalf of the fund, the investment adviser pays the operating expenses of the fund, excluding taxes, any brokerage expenses, and extraordinary or non-routine expenses.
A discussion regarding the basis for the Board of Trustees’ approval of the fund’s Amended and Restated Advisory Agreement is available in the fund’s 2024 annual holdings and financial statements, which are included in each fund’s Form N-CSR and covers the period from September 1, 2023, through August 31, 2024.
Matthew Hastings, CFA, Managing Director and Head of Bond Index Strategies for Schwab Asset Management, is responsible for the day-to-day co-management of the fund. Mr. Hastings leads the portfolio management team for the Schwab Taxable Bond Mutual Funds and Schwab Fixed-Income ETFs. He also has overall responsibility for all aspects of the management of the fund. Prior to joining Schwab in 1999, Mr. Hastings was in fixed income sales and trading at Lehman Brothers. He has worked in the fixed income securities industry since 1996.
Ryan Hook, CFA, Senior Portfolio Manager for Schwab Asset Management, is responsible for the day-to-day co-management of the fund. Prior to joining Schwab in 2022, Mr. Hook spent nearly 2 years as a portfolio strategist at Capital Group, where he was responsible for managing high yield institutional mandates. Prior to that, he spent 14 years at Goldman Sachs working mainly in high yield portfolio construction and trading, as well as product management.
Steven Hung, Senior Portfolio Manager for Schwab Asset Management, is responsible for the day-to-day co-management of the fund. He is primarily responsible for the management and oversight of corporate bonds, within the taxable bond strategies, with additional responsibility for managing municipal bond index strategies. Mr. Hung has been a portfolio manager with Schwab Asset Management since 2005 and prior to that, served in various roles as an associate portfolio manager and trader since 1999. In 1998, he joined Schwab’s management training program and worked as a clerk on the options trading floor of the Pacific Coast Stock Exchange.
Maxwell Brantley, CFA, Portfolio Manager for Schwab Asset Management, is responsible for the day-to-day co-management of the fund. Prior to joining Schwab in 2015, Mr. Brantley was at AllianceBernstein in their wealth management division for three years, most recently as a senior private client associate.
Olga Kislova, CFA, Portfolio Manager for Schwab Asset Management, is responsible for the day-to-day co-management of the fund. Ms. Kislova began her career at Schwab in 2014 as a research analyst focused on Schwab’s money market and bond funds. Prior to joining Schwab, Ms. Kislova was a credit research analyst at Nomura Asset Management U.K. Ltd. She has worked in the fixed income securities industry since 2007.
Additional information about the portfolio managers’ compensation, other accounts managed by the portfolio managers and the portfolio managers’ ownership of securities in the fund is available in the SAI.
Distributor. The fund’s Distributor is SEI Investments Distribution Co. The Distributor, located at 1 Freedom Valley Drive, Oaks, PA 19456, is a broker-dealer registered with the SEC. The Distributor distributes Creation Units for the fund and does not maintain a secondary market in shares of the fund.
Schwab High Yield Bond ETF | Fund Management13
Investing in the Fund
On the following pages, you will find information on buying and selling shares. Most investors will invest in the fund by placing orders through their brokerage account at Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (Schwab) or an account with another broker/dealer or other intermediary. Authorized Participants (as defined in “Purchase and Redemption of Creation Units,” below) may invest directly in the fund by placing orders for Creation Units through the fund’s transfer agent, State Street Bank and Trust Company (direct orders). Helpful information on taxes is included as well.
The fund generally is not registered for sale in jurisdictions outside the United States and is intended for purchase by persons residing in the United States. A person is considered resident in the United States if at the time of the investment (i) the account has an address of record in the United States or a U.S. territory (including APO/FPO/DPO) and (ii) all account owners are resident in the United States or a U.S. territory and have a valid U.S. taxpayer identification number. If an existing account is updated to reflect a non-U.S. address, the account may be restricted from making additional investments.
Shares of the fund trade on national securities exchanges and elsewhere during the trading day and can be bought and sold throughout the trading day like other shares of publicly traded securities. When buying or selling shares through a broker most investors will incur customary brokerage commissions and charges. In addition, you may incur the cost of the “spread” – that is, any difference between the bid price (the highest price a buyer is willing to pay for a share of a fund) and the ask price (the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for a share of a fund).
Shares of the fund trade under the following trading symbol:
| |
Schwab High Yield Bond ETF
|
| | SCYB | |
Shares of the fund may be acquired or redeemed directly from the fund only in Creation Units or multiples thereof, as discussed in the “Creation and Redemption” section below. Once created, shares of the fund trade in the secondary market in amounts less than a Creation Unit. The fund does not impose any minimum investment for shares of the fund purchased on an exchange or in the secondary market. Except when aggregated in Creation Units, shares are not redeemable by the fund.
Share Trading Prices
As with other types of securities, the trading prices of shares in the secondary market can be affected by market forces such as supply and demand, economic conditions and other factors. The price you pay or receive when you buy or sell your shares in the secondary market may be more (a premium) or less (a discount) than the NAV of such shares.
Premium/Discount Information
Information showing the number of days the market price of the fund’s shares was greater than the fund’s NAV per share (i.e., at a premium) and the number of days it was less than the fund’s NAV per share (i.e., at a discount), for various time periods, is available by visiting the fund’s website www.schwabassetmanagement.com.
Determination of Net Asset Value
The NAV of the fund’s shares is calculated as of the close of regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), generally 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time, on each day the NYSE is open for trading (each, a Business Day). NAV per share is calculated by dividing the fund’s net assets by the number of the fund’s shares outstanding. If the NYSE is closed due to weather or other extenuating circumstances on a day it would typically be open for business, or the NYSE has an unscheduled early closing on a day it has opened for business, the fund reserves the right to treat such day as a Business Day and accept purchase and redemption orders and calculate its NAV as of the normally scheduled close of regular trading on the NYSE for that day.
The fund’s portfolio securities are valued using market quotations or official closing prices if they are readily available. In cases where market quotations are not readily available or the investment adviser deems them unreliable, the fund’s portfolio securities are valued based on fair values developed following procedures approved by the fund’s Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees has designated the investment adviser as the valuation designee (Valuation Designee) for the fund to perform the fair value determination relating to all fund investments. When valuing fixed-income securities with remaining maturities of more than 60 days, the fund uses the value of the security
14Schwab High Yield Bond ETF | Investing in the Fund
provided by pricing services. The pricing services value most fixed-income securities at an evaluated price by employing methodologies that utilize actual market transactions, broker-supplied valuations, or other methodologies designed to identify the market value for such securities. Securities with remaining maturities of 60 days or less are generally valued at an evaluated price; however, such securities may be valued at their amortized cost if it approximates the security’s market value.
The fund’s Board of Trustees has approved procedures to fair value the fund’s securities when market prices are not “readily available” or are unreliable. For example, the fund may fair value a security when a security is de-listed or its trading is halted or suspended; when a security’s primary pricing source is unable or unwilling to provide a price; when a security’s primary trading market is closed during regular domestic market hours; or when a security’s value is materially affected by events occurring after the close of the security’s primary trading market. By fair valuing securities whose prices may have been affected by events occurring after the close of trading of the security’s primary trading market, the fund seeks to establish prices that investors might expect to realize upon the current sales of these securities. The Valuation Designee’s policies and procedures, which govern the selection and application of methodologies for determining the fair value of fund investments, seek to ensure that the prices at which the fund’s shares are purchased and redeemed are fair and do not result in dilution of shareholder interest or other harm to shareholders. Generally, when fair valuing a security, the Valuation Designee will take into account all reasonably available information that may be relevant to a particular valuation including, but not limited to, fundamental analytical data regarding the issuer, information relating to the issuer’s business, recent trades or offers of the security, general and specific market conditions and the specific facts giving rise to the need to fair value the security. The Valuation Designee makes fair value determinations in good faith in accordance with the fair value procedures approved by the Board of Trustees. Due to the subjective and variable nature of fair value pricing, there can be no assurance that the fund could obtain the fair value assigned to the security upon the sale of such security.
Transactions in fund shares will be priced at NAV only if you purchase or redeem shares directly from the fund in Creation Units. Fund shares that are purchased or sold on the secondary market will be effected at prevailing market prices, which may be higher or lower than NAV, and may be subject to brokerage commissions and charges. As described below, purchases and redemptions of Creation Units will be priced at the NAV next determined after receipt of the purchase or redemption order.
Purchase and Redemption of Creation Units
Creation and Redemption
The shares that trade in the secondary market are “created” at NAV. The fund issues and redeems shares only in Creation Units, which are large blocks of shares. Only institutional investors who have entered into an authorized participant agreement (known as Authorized Participants) may purchase or redeem Creation Units. Creation Units generally are issued and redeemed in exchange for a specified basket of securities and/or a designated amount of cash. Each Business Day, prior to the opening of trading, the fund publishes the specific securities and designated amount of cash included in that day’s basket for the fund through the National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC) or other method of public dissemination. The fund reserves the right to accept or pay out a basket of securities or cash that differs from the published basket. The prices at which creations and redemptions occur are based on the next calculation of NAV after an order is received and deemed acceptable by the transfer agent. Orders from Authorized Participants to create or redeem Creation Units will only be accepted on a Business Day and are also subject to acceptance by the fund and the transfer agent.
Creations and redemptions must be made by an Authorized Participant that has executed an agreement with the Distributor with respect to creations and redemptions of Creation Unit aggregations. Information about the procedures regarding creation and redemption of Creation Units is included in the SAI.
Authorized Participants and the Continuous Offering of Shares
Because new shares may be created and issued on an ongoing basis, at any point during the life of the fund, a “distribution,” as such term is used in the 1933 Act, may be occurring. Broker-dealers and other persons are cautioned that some activities on their part may, depending on the circumstances, result in them being deemed participants in a distribution in a manner that could render them statutory underwriters and subject to the prospectus-delivery and liability provisions of the 1933 Act. Nonetheless, any determination of whether one is an underwriter must take into account all the relevant facts and circumstances of each particular case.
Broker-dealers should also note that dealers who are not “underwriters,” but are participating in a distribution (as contrasted to ordinary secondary transactions), and thus dealing with shares that are part of an “unsold allotment” within the meaning of Section 4(a)(3)(C) of the 1933 Act, would be unable to take advantage of the prospectus delivery exemption provided by Section 4(a)(3) of the 1933 Act. For delivery of prospectuses to exchange members, the prospectus delivery mechanism of Rule 153 under the 1933 Act is only available with respect to transactions on a national securities exchange.
Creation and Redemption Transaction Fees for Creation Units
The fund may impose a creation transaction fee and a redemption transaction fee to offset transfer and other transaction costs associated with the issuance and redemption of Creation Units. The creation and redemption transaction fees applicable to the fund are listed below. The standard creation transaction fee is charged to each purchaser on the day such purchaser creates a Creation Unit. The standard fee is a
Schwab High Yield Bond ETF | Investing in the Fund15
single charge and will be the amount indicated below regardless of the number of Creation Units purchased by an investor on the same day. Similarly, the standard redemption transaction fee will be the amount indicated below regardless of the number of Creation Units redeemed that day. In addition, purchasers and redeemers of shares in Creation Units are responsible for payment of the costs of transferring securities to or out of the fund. Purchasers and redeemers of Creation Units for cash may also be subject to an additional variable charge up to the maximum amount shown in the table below. This additional variable charge will offset the transaction costs to the fund of buying or selling portfolio securities. In certain circumstances, the cost of any standard transaction fees and/or additional variable charges may be waived by the fund when doing so is believed to be in the best interests of the fund. From time to time, the investment adviser may cover the cost of any transaction fees.
The following table shows, as of November 29, 2024, the approximate value of one Creation Unit of the fund, including the standard and maximum additional creation and redemption transaction fee. These fees are payable only by investors who purchase shares directly from the fund. Retail investors who purchase shares through their brokerage account will not pay these fees. Investors who use the services of a broker or other such intermediary may pay fees for such services.
|
Fund
|
| |
Approximate Value
of One Creation Unit |
| |
Standard
Creation/Redemption Transaction Fee |
| |
Maximum
Additional Creation Transaction Fee(1) |
| |
Maximum
Additional Redemption Transaction Fee(1) |
| ||||||||||||
|
Schwab High Yield Bond ETF
|
| | | $ | 2,657,200 | | | | | $ | 100 | | | | | | 3.0% | | | | | | 2.0% | | |
(1)
As a percentage of total amount invested or redeemed.
Additional Policies
Policy Regarding Short-Term or Excessive Trading
The fund does not impose any restrictions on the frequency of purchases and redemptions of fund shares. When considering that a policy regarding short-term or excessive trading was not necessary for the fund, the Board of Trustees considered the structure of the fund as an ETF and that fund shares are purchased and redeemed directly with the fund only in large quantities (Creation Units) by Authorized Participants who are authorized to purchase and redeem shares directly with the fund. Because purchase and redemption transactions with Authorized Participants are an essential part of the ETF process and help keep ETF trading prices in line with NAV, the fund accommodates frequent purchases and redemptions by Authorized Participants. Frequent purchases and redemptions for cash may increase index tracking error and portfolio transaction costs and may lead to realization of capital gains. Frequent in-kind creations and redemptions do not give rise to these concerns. The fund reserves the right to reject or limit any purchase order at any time.
The fund reserves the right to impose restrictions on disruptive or abusive trading. Such trading is defined by the fund as purchases and sales of fund shares in amounts and frequency determined by the fund to be significant and in a pattern of activity that can potentially be detrimental to the fund and its shareholders. Such adverse effects can include diluting the value of the shareholders’ holdings, increasing fund transaction costs, disrupting portfolio management strategy, incurring unwanted taxable gains or forcing the fund to hold excess levels of cash. The fund may reject purchase or redemption orders in such instances. The fund also imposes a transaction fee on Creation Unit transactions that is designed to offset the fund’s transfer and other transaction costs associated with the issuance and redemption of the Creation Units. The Board of Trustees may determine that policies and procedures regarding the frequency of purchases and redemptions of fund shares are necessary in the future.
Investments by Registered Investment Companies
Section 12(d)(1) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, restricts investments by registered investment companies in the securities of other investment companies, including shares of the fund. Registered investment companies are permitted to invest in the fund beyond the limits set forth in section 12(d)(1), subject to certain terms and conditions including in some cases that such investment companies enter into an agreement with the fund.
Payments to Financial Intermediaries
The investment adviser or its affiliates make payments out of their own resources, or provide products and services at a discount, to certain brokerage firms, banks, insurance companies, retirement plan service providers and other financial intermediaries that perform shareholder, recordkeeping, sub-accounting and other administrative services in connection with investments in fund shares. The investment adviser or its affiliates also make payments out of their own resources, or provide products and services at a discount, to certain financial intermediaries in connection with certain activities or services which may facilitate, directly or indirectly, investment in the fund. These payments may relate to marketing and/or fund promotion activities and presentations, educational training programs, conferences, the development and support of technology platforms and/or reporting systems, data analytics and support, or making shares of the fund available to its customers. These payments, which may be significant, are paid by the investment adviser or its affiliates out of their own resources and not from the assets of the fund.
16Schwab High Yield Bond ETF | Investing in the Fund
Payments to a financial intermediary may create potential conflicts of interest between the intermediary and its clients as the payments may provide such intermediary with an incentive to favor sales of shares of the fund over other investment options they make available to their customers. Please see the SAI for additional information.
Distributions and Taxes
Any investment in the fund typically involves several tax considerations. The information below is meant as a general summary for U.S. citizens and residents. Please see the SAI for additional information. Because each person’s tax situation is different, you should consult your tax advisor about the tax implications of your investment in the fund. You also can visit the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) website at www.irs.gov.
As a shareholder, you are entitled to your share of the dividends and gains your fund earns. Dividends from net investment income, if any, are generally declared and paid monthly for the fund. To receive a dividend distribution, you must be a registered shareholder on the date that dividends are declared. Dividend distributions are paid to shareholders on the payable date. Distributions of net realized capital gains, if any, generally are declared and paid once a year, although the fund may do so more frequently as determined by the Board of Trustees. Although it is not generally expected, if the fund’s distributions exceed its realized taxable income and capital gains during a taxable year, then all or a portion of the distributions made during that year may be characterized as a return of capital to shareholders. A return of capital distribution generally will not be taxable but will reduce the shareholder’s cost basis and result in a higher capital gain or lower capital loss when those shares on which the distribution was received are sold. To the extent that a return of capital distribution exceeds a shareholder’s adjusted basis, the distribution will be treated as gain from the sale of shares. The fund reserves the right to declare special distributions if, in its reasonable discretion, such action is necessary or advisable to preserve its status as a regulated investment company or to avoid imposition of income or excise taxes on undistributed income or realized gains. Dividends and other distributions on shares of the fund are distributed on a pro rata basis to beneficial owners of such shares. During the fourth quarter of the year, typically in early November, an estimate of the fund’s year-end distributions, if any, may be made available on the fund’s website www.schwabassetmanagement.com.
Unless you are investing through an IRA, 401(k) or other tax-advantaged account, your fund distributions generally have tax consequences. The fund’s taxable investment income and short-term capital gains are distributed as dividends and will be taxable as ordinary income. Other capital gains distributions are taxable as long-term capital gains, regardless of how long you have held your shares in the fund. The maximum individual rate applicable to long-term capital gains and qualified dividend income is generally either 15% or 20%, depending on whether the individual’s income exceeds certain threshold amounts. However, it is not expected that any of the fund’s distributions will be eligible to be treated as qualified dividend income subject to the reduced rates. Distributions generally are taxable in the tax year in which they are declared, whether you reinvest them or take them in cash.
Generally, any sale of your shares is a taxable event. A sale of your shares may give rise to a gain or loss. In general, any gain or loss realized upon a taxable disposition of shares will be treated as long-term capital gain or loss if the shares have been held for more than one year. Otherwise, the gain or loss on the taxable disposition of shares will be treated as short-term capital gain or loss. The maximum individual rate applicable to long-term capital gains is generally either 15% or 20%, depending on whether the individual’s income exceeds certain threshold amounts. Any loss realized upon a taxable disposition of shares held for six months or less will be treated as long-term, rather than short-term, to the extent of any long-term capital gains distributions received (or deemed received) by you with respect to the shares. All or a portion of any loss realized upon a taxable disposition of shares will be disallowed if you purchase other substantially identical shares within 30 days before or after the disposition. In such a case, the basis of the newly purchased shares will be adjusted to reflect the disallowed loss.
An additional 3.8% Medicare tax is imposed on certain net investment income (including ordinary dividends and capital gains distributions received from the fund and net gains from redemptions or other taxable dispositions of fund shares) of U.S. individuals, estates and trusts to the extent that such person’s “modified adjusted gross income” (in the case of an individual) or “adjusted gross income” (in the case of an estate or trust) exceeds certain threshold amounts.
At the beginning of every year, the fund provides shareholders with information detailing the tax status of any distributions the fund paid during the previous calendar year. Schwab customers also receive information on distributions and transactions in their monthly account statements.
If you are investing through a taxable account and purchase shares of the fund just before it declares a distribution, you may receive a portion of your investment back as a taxable distribution. This is because when the fund makes a distribution, the share price is reduced by the amount of the distribution. You can avoid “buying a dividend,” as it is often called, by finding out if a distribution is imminent and waiting until afterwards to invest. Of course, you may decide that the opportunity to gain a few days of investment performance outweighs the tax consequences of buying a dividend.
Schwab High Yield Bond ETF | Investing in the Fund17
Foreign shareholders may be subject to different U.S. federal income tax treatment, including withholding tax at the rate of 30% on amounts treated as ordinary dividends from the fund, as discussed in more detail in the SAI. Furthermore, the fund is required to withhold U.S. tax (at a 30% rate) on payments of taxable dividends made to certain non-U.S. entities that fail to comply (or be deemed compliant) with extensive reporting and withholding requirements designed to inform the U.S. Department of the Treasury of U.S.-owned foreign investment accounts. Shareholders may be requested to provide additional information to the fund to enable the fund to determine whether withholding is required.
Taxes on Creation and Redemption of Creation Units
An Authorized Participant who exchanges securities for Creation Units generally will recognize a gain or a loss equal to the difference between the market value of the Creation Units at the time of the exchange and the sum of the exchanger’s aggregate basis in the securities surrendered and the cash component paid. A person who redeems Creation Units will generally recognize a gain or loss equal to the difference between the exchanger’s basis in the Creation Units and the sum of the aggregate market value of the securities and the amount of cash received for such Creation Units. The IRS, however, may assert that a loss realized upon an exchange of securities for Creation Units cannot be deducted currently under the rules governing “wash sales,” or on the basis that there has been no significant change in economic position. Persons exchanging securities for Creation Units should consult a tax advisor with respect to whether wash sale rules apply and when a loss might be deductible. Any capital gain or loss realized upon a redemption (or creation) of Creation Units is generally treated as long-term capital gain or loss if the fund’s shares (or securities surrendered) have been held for more than one year and as short-term capital gain or loss if the shares (or securities surrendered) have been held for one year or less.
If you purchase or redeem Creation Units, you will be sent a confirmation statement showing how many shares you purchased or sold and at what price. Persons purchasing or redeeming Creation Units should consult their own tax advisors with respect to the tax treatment of any creation or redemption transaction.
Additional Information
Index Provider
Charles Schwab Investment Management, Inc., dba Schwab Asset Management, has entered into a license agreement with ICE Data Indices, LLC to use the ICE BofA US Cash Pay High Yield Constrained Index. Fees payable under the license agreement are paid by the investment adviser. ICE Data Indices, LLC has no obligation to continue to provide the ICE BofA US Cash Pay High Yield Constrained Index to Schwab Asset Management beyond the term of the license agreement.
Disclaimers
Source ICE Data Indices, LLC (ICE Data), is used with permission. “ICE®” is a registered trademark of ICE Data Indices, LLC or its affiliates and “BofA®” is a registered trademark of Bank of America Corporation licensed by Bank of America Corporation and its affiliates (“BofA”) and may not be used without BofA’s prior written approval. These trademarks have been licensed, along with the ICE BofA US Cash Pay High Yield Constrained Index (Index) for use by Charles Schwab Investment Management, Inc., dba Schwab Asset Management, in connection with the Schwab High Yield Bond ETF (the Fund). Neither Schwab Asset Management, Schwab Strategic Trust (the Trust) nor the Fund, as applicable, is sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by ICE Data Indices, LLC, its affiliates or its Third Party Suppliers (ICE Data and its Suppliers). ICE Data and its Suppliers make no representations or warranties regarding the advisability of investing in securities generally, in the Fund particularly, the Trust or the ability of the Index to track general stock market performance. ICE Data’s only relationship to Schwab Asset Management is the licensing of certain trademarks and trade names and the Index or components thereof. The Index is determined, composed and calculated by ICE Data without regard to Schwab Asset Management or the Fund or its holders. ICE Data has no obligation to take the needs of Schwab Asset Management or the holders of the Fund into consideration in determining, composing or calculating the Index. ICE Data is not responsible for and has not participated in the determination of the timing of, prices of, or quantities of the Fund to be issued or in the determination or calculation of the equation by which the Fund is to be priced, sold, purchased, or redeemed. Except for certain custom index calculation services, all information provided by ICE Data is general in nature and not tailored to the needs of Schwab Asset Management or any other person, entity or group of persons. ICE Data has no obligation or liability in connection with the administration, marketing, or trading of the Fund. ICE Data is not an investment advisor. Inclusion of a security within an index is not a recommendation by ICE Data to buy, sell, or hold such security, nor is it considered to be investment advice.
ICE DATA AND ITS SUPPLIERS DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES AND REPRESENTATIONS, EXPRESS AND/OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE, INCLUDING THE INDICES, INDEX DATA AND ANY INFORMATION INCLUDED IN, RELATED TO, OR DERIVED THEREFROM (INDEX DATA). ICE DATA AND ITS SUPPLIERS SHALL NOT BE SUBJECT TO ANY DAMAGES OR LIABILITY WITH RESPECT TO THE ADEQUACY, ACCURACY, TIMELINESS OR COMPLETENESS OF THE INDICES AND THE INDEX DATA, WHICH ARE PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” BASIS AND YOUR USE IS AT YOUR OWN RISK.
18Schwab High Yield Bond ETF | Investing in the Fund
Shares of the fund are not sponsored, endorsed or promoted by NYSE Arca, Inc. NYSE Arca makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, to the owners of the shares of the fund or any member of the public regarding the ability of the fund to track the total return performance of its underlying index or the ability of the underlying index to track stock or bond market performance. NYSE Arca is not responsible for, nor has it participated in, the determination of the compilation or the calculation of any underlying index, nor in the determination of the timing of, prices of, or quantities of shares of the fund to be issued, nor in the determination or calculation of the equation by which the shares are redeemable. NYSE Arca has no obligation or liability to owners of the shares of the fund in connection with the administration, marketing or trading of the shares of the fund.
NYSE Arca shall have no liability for damages, claims, losses or expenses caused by any errors, omissions, or delays in calculating or disseminating any current index or portfolio value; the current value of the portfolio of securities required to be deposited to the fund; the amount of any dividend equivalent payment or cash distribution to holders of shares of the fund; net asset value; or other information relating to the creation, redemption or trading of shares of the fund, resulting from any negligent act or omission by NYSE Arca, or any act, condition or cause beyond the reasonable control of NYSE Arca, including, but not limited to, an act of God; fire; flood; extraordinary weather conditions; war; insurrection; riot; strike; accident; action of government; communications or power failure; equipment or software malfunction; or any error, omission or delay in the reporting of transactions in one or more underlying securities. NYSE Arca makes no warranty, express or implied, as to results to be obtained by any person or entity from the use of any underlying index or data included therein and NYSE Arca makes no express or implied warranties, and disclaims all warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose with respect to shares of the fund or any underlying index or data included therein.
The fund and Schwab Asset Management do not guarantee the accuracy and/or the completeness of the index or any data included therein and shall have no liability for any errors, omissions, or interruptions therein. The fund and Schwab Asset Management make no warranty, express or implied, as to results to be obtained by the fund, or any other person or entity from the use of index or any data included therein. The fund and Schwab Asset Management make no express or implied warranties, and expressly disclaims all warranties, of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose or use with respect to the index or any data included therein, without limiting any of the foregoing, in no event shall the fund and Schwab Asset Management have any liability for any lost profits or indirect, punitive, special or consequential damages (including lost profits), even if notified of the possibility of such damages.
Schwab High Yield Bond ETF | Investing in the Fund19
Prospectus | December 20, 2024
Schwab High Yield Bond ETF
To Learn More
This prospectus contains important information on the fund and should be read and kept for reference. You also can obtain more information from the following sources:
Recent information regarding the fund’s NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads is available at www.schwabassetmanagement.com.
Additional information about the fund’s investments is available in the fund’s annual and semiannual reports to shareholders, which are sent to current investors, and in Form N-CSR. In the fund’s annual report, you will find a discussion of the market conditions and investment strategies that significantly affected the fund’s performance during its last fiscal year. In Form N-CSR, you will find the fund’s annual and semiannual financial statements.
The Statement of Additional Information (SAI) includes a more detailed discussion of investment policies and the risks associated with various investments. The SAI is incorporated by reference into the prospectus, making it legally part of the prospectus.
For a free copy of any of these documents, to request other information, or ask questions about the fund, call 1-877-824-5615. In addition, you may visit
www.schwabassetmanagement.com/prospectus for a free copy of these documents.
www.schwabassetmanagement.com/prospectus for a free copy of these documents.
The SAI, the fund’s annual and semiannual reports, the fund’s holdings and financial statements, and other related materials are available from the EDGAR Database on the SEC’s website (www.sec.gov). You can obtain copies of this information, after paying a duplicating fee, by sending a request by e-mail to publicinfo@sec.gov.
| | SEC File Number | | | | |
| |
Schwab Strategic Trust 811‑22311
|
| | REG120232-02 | |
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