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Summary
Prospectus February 29,
2012
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Schwab
International Small-Cap Equity
ETFtm
Ticker
Symbol: SCHC
Before you invest, you may want to review the funds
prospectus, which contains more information about the fund and
its risks. You can find the funds prospectus, Statement of
Additional Information (SAI) and other information about the
fund online at www.schwabetfs.com/prospectus. You can
also obtain this information at no cost by calling
1-866-414-6349
or by sending an email request to
orders@mysummaryprospectus.com. If you purchase or hold
fund shares through a financial intermediary, the funds
prospectus, SAI, and other information about the fund are
available from your financial intermediary.
The funds prospectus dated December 17, 2011, and SAI
dated December 17, 2011, as supplemented February 29,
2012, include a more detailed discussion of fund investment
policies and the risks associated with various fund investments.
The prospectus and SAI are incorporated by reference into the
summary prospectus, making them legally a part of the summary
prospectus.
Investment
objective
The funds goal is to track as closely as possible, before
fees and expenses, the total return of the FTSE Developed Small
Cap ex-US Liquid
Index.1
Fund fees
and expenses
This table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you
buy and hold shares of the fund. The table does not reflect
brokerage commissions you may incur when buying or selling fund
shares.
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Shareholder
fees
(fees
paid directly from your investment)
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None
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Annual
fund operating expenses
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(expenses
that you pay each year as a % of the value of your investment)
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Management fees
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0.35
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Other expenses
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None
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Total annual operating expenses
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0.35
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Example
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 redeem 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 funds
operating expenses remain the same. This example does not
reflect any brokerage commissions you may incur when buying or
selling fund shares. Your actual costs may be higher or lower.
Expenses on
a $10,000 investment
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1 year
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3 years
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5 years
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10 years
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$36
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$113
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$197
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$443
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Portfolio
turnover
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 funds performance. During the most
recent fiscal year, the funds portfolio turnover rate was
18% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal
investment strategies
To pursue its goal, the fund generally invests in stocks that
are included in the index. The index is comprised of
small capitalization companies in developed countries outside
the United States, as defined by the index provider. The index
defines the small capitalization universe as approximately the
bottom 10% of the eligible universe with a minimum free float
capitalization of $150 million. As of August 31, 2011,
the index was composed of 2,038 stocks in 32 developed market
countries.
It is the funds policy that under normal circumstances it
will invest at least 90% of its net assets in these stocks,
including depositary receipts representing securities of the
index; which may be in the form of American Depositary receipts
(ADRs), Global Depositary receipts
(GDRs) and European Depositary receipts
(EDRs). The fund will notify its shareholders at
least 60 days before changing this policy. The fund may
sell securities that are represented in the index in
anticipation of their removal from the index, or buy securities
that are not yet represented in the index in anticipation of
their addition to the index. The fund generally expects that its
country weightings will be similar to those of the index.
Under normal circumstances, the fund may invest up to 10% of its
net assets in securities not included in its index. The
principal types of these investments include those that the
Adviser believes will help the fund track the index, such as
investments in (a) securities that are not represented in
the index but the Adviser anticipates will be added to the index
or as necessary to
1 Index
ownership
FTSE®
is a trademark of The Financial Times Limited (FT)
and the London Stock Exchange plc (the Exchange) and
is used by the fund under license. The Schwab International
Small-Cap Equity ETF is not sponsored, endorsed, sold or
promoted by FT or the Exchange and FT and the Exchange do not
make any representation regarding the advisability of investing
in shares of the fund. Fees payable under the license are paid
by the Adviser.
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reflect various corporate actions (such as mergers and
spin-offs), (b) other investment companies, and
(c) derivatives, principally futures contracts. The fund
may use futures contracts and other derivatives primarily to
seek returns on the funds otherwise uninvested cash assets
to help it better track the index. The fund may also invest in
cash and cash equivalents, and may lend its securities to
minimize the difference in performance that naturally exists
between an index fund and its corresponding index. The fund does
not hedge its exposure to foreign currencies.
Because it may not be possible or practicable to purchase all of
the stocks in the index, the Adviser seeks to track the total
return of the index by using statistical sampling techniques.
These techniques involve investing in a limited number of index
securities which, when taken together, are expected to perform
similarly to the index as a whole. These techniques are based on
a variety of factors, including performance attributes, tax
considerations, country weightings, capitalization, industry
factors, risk factors and other 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 funds investment objective.
The fund will concentrate its investments (i.e., hold 25%
or more 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.
The Adviser seeks to achieve, over time, a correlation between
the funds performance and that of its index, before fees
and expenses, of 95% or better. However, there can be no
guarantee that the fund will achieve a high degree of
correlation with the index. A number of factors may affect the
funds ability to achieve a high correlation with its
index, including the degree to which the fund utilizes a
sampling technique. The correlation between the performance of
the fund and its index may also diverge due to transaction
costs, asset valuations, corporate actions (such as mergers and
spin-offs), timing variances, and differences between the
funds portfolio and the index resulting from legal
restrictions (such as diversification requirements) that apply
to the fund but not to the index.
Principal
risks
The fund is subject to risks, any of which could cause an
investor to lose money. The funds principal risks include:
Market Risk. Stock markets rise and fall daily. As
with any investment whose performance is tied to these markets,
the value of your investment in the fund will fluctuate, which
means that you could lose money.
Investment Style Risk. The fund is not actively
managed. Therefore, the fund follows the securities included in
the index during upturns as well as downturns. Because of its
indexing strategy, the fund does not take steps to reduce market
exposure or to lessen the effects of a declining market. In
addition, because of the funds expenses, the funds
performance is normally below that of the index.
Equity Risk. The prices of equity securities rise
and fall daily. These price movements may result from factors
affecting individual companies, industries or the securities
market as a whole. In addition, equity markets tend to move in
cycles, which may cause stock prices to fall over short or
extended periods of time.
Small-Cap Risk. Historically, small-cap stocks have
been riskier than large- and mid-cap stocks, and their prices
may move sharply, especially during market upturns and
downturns. Small-cap companies may be more vulnerable to adverse
business or economic events than larger, more established
companies. During a period when small-cap stocks fall behind
other types of investments large-cap and mid-cap
stocks, for instance the funds small-cap
holdings could reduce performance.
Foreign Investment Risk. The funds investments
in securities of foreign issuers may involve certain risks that
are greater 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;
changes in currency exchange rates or exchange control
regulations (including limitations on currency movements and
exchanges); differing accounting, auditing, financial reporting
and legal standards and practices; differing securities market
structures; and higher transaction costs. These risks may be
heightened in connection with investments in emerging markets.
Foreign securities also include ADRs, GDRs, and EDRs, which are
receipts issued by U.S. and foreign banks that represent
shares of foreign-based corporations. Investment in ADRs, GDRs
and EDRs may be less liquid than the underlying shares in their
primary trading market and GDRs, many of which are issued by
companies in emerging markets, may be more volatile.
Sampling Index Tracking Risk. The fund may not fully
replicate the index and may hold securities not included in the
index. As a result, the fund is subject to the risk that the
advisers investment management strategy, the
implementation of which is subject to a number of constraints,
may not produce the intended results. Because the fund utilizes
a sampling approach it may not track the return of the index as
well as it would if the fund purchased all of the securities in
its benchmark index.
Tracking Error Risk. As an index fund, the fund
seeks to track the performance of its benchmark index, although
it may not be successful in doing so. The divergence between the
performance of the fund and its benchmark index, positive or
negative, is called tracking error. Tracking error
can be caused by many factors and it may be significant.
Derivatives Risk. The funds use of derivative
instruments involves risks different from, or possibly greater
than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities
and other traditional investments and could cause the fund to
lose more than the principal amount invested. In addition,
investments in derivatives may involve leverage, which means a
small percentage of assets invested in derivatives can have a
disproportionately larger impact on the fund.
Liquidity Risk. A particular investment may be
difficult to purchase or sell. The fund may be unable to sell
illiquid securities at an advantageous time or price.
Securities Lending Risk. Securities lending involves
the risk of loss of rights in the collateral or delay in
recovery of the collateral
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Summary Prospectus February 29, 2012
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Schwab International Small-Cap Equity
ETFtm
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if the borrower fails to return the security loaned or becomes
insolvent.
Concentration Risk. To the extent that the
funds or the indexs portfolio is concentrated in the
securities of issuers in a particular market, industry, group of
industries, sector or asset class, the fund may be adversely
affected by the performance of those securities, may be subject
to increased price volatility and may be more susceptible to
adverse economic, market, political or regulatory occurrences
affecting that market, industry, group of industries, sector or
asset class.
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.
Shares of the Fund May Trade at Prices Other Than
NAV. 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
funds net asset value (NAV), there may be times when the
market price and the NAV vary significantly. You may pay more
than NAV when you buy shares of the fund in the secondary
market, and you may receive less than NAV when you sell those
shares in the secondary market.
Lack of Governmental Insurance or Guarantee. An
investment in the fund is not a bank deposit and it is not
insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation (FDIC) or any other government agency.
For more information on the risks of investing in the fund
please see the Fund details section in the
prospectus.
Performance
The fund does not have a full calendar year of performance
history. Once the fund has completed a full calendar year of
operations a bar chart and table will be included that will
provide some indication of the risks of investing in the fund by
showing the variability of the funds returns and comparing
the funds performance to the index.
Investment
adviser
Charles Schwab Investment Management, Inc.
Portfolio
managers
Agnes Hong, CFA, a managing director and portfolio
manager of the investment adviser, has day-to-day responsibility
for the co-management of the fund. She has managed the fund
since 2010.
Ferian Juwono, CFA, a managing director and portfolio
manager of the investment adviser, has day-to-day responsibility
for the co-management of the fund. He has managed the fund since
2010.
Purchase
and sale of fund shares
The fund issues and redeems shares at its NAV only in large
blocks of shares, typically 100,000 shares or more
(Creation Units). These transactions are usually in
exchange for a basket of securities included in the index and an
amount of cash. As a practical matter, only institutions or
large investors purchase or redeem Creation Units. Except when
aggregated in Creation Units, shares of the fund are not
redeemable securities.
Individual shares of the fund trade on national securities
exchanges and elsewhere during the trading day and can only be
bought and sold at market prices throughout the trading day
through a broker-dealer. Because fund shares trade at market
prices rather than NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than
NAV (premium) or less than NAV (discount).
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.
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Summary Prospectus February 29, 2012
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Schwab International Small-Cap Equity
ETFtm
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Schwab
ETFstm
REG58810FLD-05
Schwab
International Small-Cap Equity
ETFtm;
Ticker Symbol: SCHC
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Summary Prospectus February 29, 2012
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Schwab International Small-Cap Equity
ETFtm
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