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The Vanguard effect is coming for the Canadian mutual fund industry, which charges the highest fees in the world to manage equities.

Vanguard Investments Canada Inc., known for its bargain-basement fees on exchange traded funds, is launching its first suite of mutual funds with a maximum management fee of 0.5 per cent. That compares with a median expense ratio of 2.23 per cent for Canadian equity funds in 2017, the highest of 25 countries, according to a Morningstar study.

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“We’ve brought the cost down for Canadian ETFs and our competitors have brought their costs down to compete,” Atul Tiwari, managing director and head of Vanguard Canada, said in a phone interview. “We want to bring that same competition to the mutual-fund space.”

Vanguard will offer a global balanced fund, a global dividend fund, a U.S. value fund and an international growth fund, all of which have been offered by Malvern, Pennsylvania-based Vanguard Group Inc. in the U.S. or the U.K. The foray in Canada is part of a global push by the company that’s emphasizing actively managed funds over index trackers.