An American Depositary Receipt is a certificate issued by a U.S. bank that represents shares in foreign stock. These certificates trade on American stock exchanges. ADRs and their dividends are priced in U.S. dollars. ADRs represent a simple, liquid way for U.S. investors to own foreign stocks.
 

ADRs are a form of equity security created specifically to simplify foreign investing for American investors. An ADR is issued by an American bank or broker, known as a custodian or depositary. It represents one or more shares of foreign-company stock held by that bank in the home stock market of the foreign company.

Investors who purchase the ADRs are paid dividends in U.S. dollars. The foreign bank pays dividends in the native currency, and the custodian bank distributes the dividends in U.S. dollars after factoring in currency conversion costs, foreign taxes, and any pass-through fees.
 

The ongoing management fee charged for an ETF by the fund's sponsor. This can vary widely, with the industry asset-weighted average** OER for passively managed ETFs being 0.19%³.

The asset-weighted average OER for cap weighted Schwab ETFs*** is just 0.05%.⁴