ASCI vs SCHC

ASCIFabrdn International Small Cap Active ETF

SCHCASchwab International Small-Cap Equity ETF

In short

ASCI A 1996-vintage stock picker that stepped into an ETF wrapper in 2025: active international small-cap, chosen on quality, growth and momentum, at 0.70% net of a waiver through February 28, 2028 in an aisle built on cheap index trackers.

SCHC The bargain end of international small caps: Schwab charges 0.06% where the typical fund in this group sits near 0.40%. Roughly 2,200 stocks from developed markets outside the US, with Canada and South Korea in the mix.

Stated mandate

ASCI The Fund seeks long-term growth of capital and invests primarily in equity securities of small non-U.S. companies.

SCHC The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the total return of the FTSE Developed Small Cap ex US Liquid Index.

Why people hold it

• ASCI Real stock picking, not index sampling: the team screens non-U.S. small companies on quality, growth and momentum, with at least 80% of net assets committed to that hunting ground.sec.govaberdeeninvestments.com
• Room to roam: up to 35% of net assets can sit in emerging-market securities, and the fund typically carries full currency exposure to the markets it holds.sec.gov
• The history predates the ticker. ASCI took over the assets of the abrdn International Small Cap Fund, a mutual fund dating to 1996, in October 2025, strategy and team intact.aberdeeninvestments.comaberdeeninvestments.com 2

• SCHC 0.06% a year, against a peer-group median near 0.40%. In a corner of the market where fees usually run high, that gap is most of the pitch.schwabassetmanagement.com
• About 2,200 holdings across developed markets outside the US. Broad enough that it behaves like the asset class rather than a concentrated bet.
• Counts Canada and South Korea as developed markets, covering ground that EAFE-built rivals such as SCZ leave out by design.schwabassetmanagement.comishares.com
• Trading since 2010 and has tracked its FTSE developed small-cap benchmark tightly, one of the cleaner index implementations in its peer group.

Worth knowing

• ASCI Active comes at a price: 0.70% net of a waiver through February 28, 2028 (1.11% gross), above the category median, against 0.06% at index peers SCHC and VSS.
• No index to lean on. Results ride on the team's picks, and the prospectus allows significant concentration in a single country or region plus heavy industrials exposure.sec.gov
• Smaller and more thinly traded than the category's index heavyweights, a trade-off that typically shows up as wider bid-ask spreads.

• SCHC Foreign small caps swing harder than large caps, and holdings are priced in local currencies, so exchange-rate moves feed straight into results.
• Developed markets only. Emerging-market small caps sit outside the mandate, which is where wider ex-US peers like VSS reach further.
• Moderately traded rather than a top-of-tape name, and distributions land once or twice a year instead of quarterly.

Full ASCI profile⁠

Full SCHC profile⁠