WEBVTT - Vanguard CEO Salim Ramji Talks Company Fee Change

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<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. We welcome now our

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<v Speaker 1>TV and radio audiences worldwide, and pleased to say we're

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<v Speaker 1>joined by Vanguard CEO Salem Ramji in an exclusive conversation, Slim.

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<v Speaker 1>Great to have you with us. So we all saw

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<v Speaker 1>the red to be here, Katie, Thank you. We saw

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<v Speaker 1>the ripple effects from Monday's move. And your average fee

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<v Speaker 1>now is just seven basis points across your lineup. The

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<v Speaker 1>industry average for contexts forty four basis points. Set the

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<v Speaker 1>scene for us.

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<v Speaker 2>Why now, well, you know, in one sense, I will

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<v Speaker 2>say Monday was a pretty joyous day here at Vanguard,

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<v Speaker 2>and it was joyous because it really is a reaffirmation

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<v Speaker 2>of our business model where we're owned by our clients

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<v Speaker 2>and so as a result, as we gain scale economies

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<v Speaker 2>here at the company, we share those back with our clients.

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<v Speaker 2>And that's not just been true since Monday, It's been

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<v Speaker 2>true since nineteen seventy five, since when we founded the company.

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<v Speaker 2>And so this was continuing on a two thousand price

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<v Speaker 2>cuts I think by our tally as of last week

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<v Speaker 2>now it's twenty one hundred and sixty eight price cuts,

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<v Speaker 2>and that's been part of the proposition that investors have

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<v Speaker 2>had with Vanguard for decades.

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<v Speaker 1>And so Salim, I think I'm asking on part of

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<v Speaker 1>your competitors, but also investors as well, when I asked

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<v Speaker 1>how low can thees go? You're at seven basis points

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<v Speaker 1>right now. Where is the possible floor here?

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<v Speaker 2>Well, you know, we don't price products as loss leaders.

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<v Speaker 2>We're not looking to you know, price abnormally low in

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<v Speaker 2>order to get somebody into a higher cost other service.

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<v Speaker 2>And so we really look at it across the board

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<v Speaker 2>in terms of our scale economies. We want to deliver

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<v Speaker 2>great quality and great performance. And I think that the

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<v Speaker 2>thing that sometimes gets lost in the mix. Obviously, index

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<v Speaker 2>prices have been coming down for quite time, led by

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<v Speaker 2>us over the past several decades. But sometimes it gets

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<v Speaker 2>confused that we were all about index. We're actually about

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<v Speaker 2>active and index. And really, if you go back to

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<v Speaker 2>our origins, what Bogel was against was high fees, and

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<v Speaker 2>so active management at a low fee can really outperform

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<v Speaker 2>over the long term if delivered with the right quality.

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<v Speaker 2>That was Bogel's hypothesis in the seventies and eighties, And

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<v Speaker 2>if you look at our track record even just in

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<v Speaker 2>something like active fixed income. The empirical evidence backs up

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<v Speaker 2>that hypothesis that he had way back then. Ninety one

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<v Speaker 2>percent of our active fixed income outperforms its peers over

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<v Speaker 2>the past ten years. And one of the reasons why

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<v Speaker 2>is because we price it at just over ten basis

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<v Speaker 2>points and so at a very low fee. And you know,

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<v Speaker 2>when you speak to our fixed income team, to Sarah

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<v Speaker 2>Devereux our CIO and our teams who run our fixed income,

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<v Speaker 2>part of the reason they're able to outperform is they

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<v Speaker 2>have a much lower headwind from higher fees, and so

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<v Speaker 2>they're able to take risks in a much better and

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<v Speaker 2>more disciplined way. And so what this is really about

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<v Speaker 2>is not just about delivering high quality index management, but

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<v Speaker 2>it's really about delivering high quality investment management at a

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<v Speaker 2>very low fee. And I think whether you're looking at

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<v Speaker 2>active fixed income or whether you're looking at index fixed

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<v Speaker 2>income or index equities, that's really what we've been.

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<v Speaker 1>About, right Well, Selim, you make the point that a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of people probably think of Vanguard and they don't

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<v Speaker 1>think of active and you do, have, of course active

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<v Speaker 1>funds out there, but it's a pretty small percentage of

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<v Speaker 1>your overall lineup, especially if you take a look at

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<v Speaker 1>the ETF side of things. Should we expect to see

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<v Speaker 1>more active fund launches from you?

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, you know, our active management the first Vanguard funds

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<v Speaker 2>are actually active funds if you go back to the

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<v Speaker 2>seventies and both we manage our active fixed income within Vanguard.

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<v Speaker 2>We have a whole range of partners subadvisors that we

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<v Speaker 2>work with for our fundamental act of equities, and they're

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<v Speaker 2>unified by the principle of being high quality at a

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<v Speaker 2>low price. And yeah, Katie, you already have seen us

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<v Speaker 2>doing a lot more in active ETFs, and I think

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<v Speaker 2>you've seen that pick up over the past several months,

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<v Speaker 2>and I hope and expect that will continue over the

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<v Speaker 2>next you know, this year.

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<v Speaker 1>And next year, all right, So we'll keep an eye

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<v Speaker 1>out for that. You were talking a little bit about,

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<v Speaker 1>of course, how the ownership structure works at Vanguard. How

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<v Speaker 1>basically all a lot of the extra cash, the extra

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<v Speaker 1>assets that you generate are funneled towards these fee cuts.

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<v Speaker 1>But I'm curious from where you sit, how do you

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<v Speaker 1>balance lowering fees versus investing in the business. What does

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<v Speaker 1>that decision tree look like.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it's something we do very carefully here, and you

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<v Speaker 2>know this week is all about our fee cuts and

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<v Speaker 2>giving back to our clients in the form of lower fees.

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<v Speaker 2>We've also stepped up our investments in things like technology.

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<v Speaker 2>That's something that really began about two three years ago

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<v Speaker 2>and is continuing this year and next year. Because we're

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<v Speaker 2>always trying to balance making sure that we've got high

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<v Speaker 2>quality products at a low cost and we're delivering the

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<v Speaker 2>right level of service to clients. We're investing in newer

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<v Speaker 2>technologies to make our investing even more efficient, to make

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<v Speaker 2>our client interfaces even more efficient. So that's always a

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<v Speaker 2>balancing act here at Vanguard, just like it isn't many

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<v Speaker 2>companies in terms of how do we think for the

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<v Speaker 2>near term and how do we think for the medium

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<v Speaker 2>to longer term. But I'd say one of the beauties

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<v Speaker 2>of Vanguard. I think part of the original genius of

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<v Speaker 2>Vanguard is that when we've got a surplus, after we've

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<v Speaker 2>looked at the important investments we need to make back

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<v Speaker 2>in things like technology, the way we give back to

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<v Speaker 2>our owners is through lower fees. And I think that's

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<v Speaker 2>the Vanguard effect that you've been seeing for decades all

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<v Speaker 2>across the company.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, that Vanguard effect obviously a good news story for

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<v Speaker 1>your investors, maybe not for your competitors. But I do

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<v Speaker 1>want to talk about the future, and I want to

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<v Speaker 1>talk specifically about private markets and alts. One of the

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<v Speaker 1>big take stories that we have on the terminal right

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<v Speaker 1>now is about PIMCO and fears that PIMCO might be

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<v Speaker 1>falling behind in alts because you take a look at

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<v Speaker 1>the industry right now and a lot of your peers

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<v Speaker 1>have invested heavily in alts in privates to scale up there.

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<v Speaker 1>What is your plan when it comes to those areas

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<v Speaker 1>and do you fear that you're a little bit behind

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<v Speaker 1>right now?

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<v Speaker 2>Well one of the again one of the great benefits

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<v Speaker 2>of our business model, if you go back to the origin,

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<v Speaker 2>we had sub advisors. You know, for example, at our

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<v Speaker 2>beginning we are and are still sub advised by Wellington Management,

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<v Speaker 2>which is still our largest sub advisor today. And so

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<v Speaker 2>where we don't have capabilities within kind of Vanguard, we've

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<v Speaker 2>long had an ability to partner with other firms. To date,

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<v Speaker 2>we've generally done in fundamental active equities, but we can

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<v Speaker 2>do it in things like private markets, and there's lots

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<v Speaker 2>of discussions and explorations we have underway to see what's possible.

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<v Speaker 2>But our north star is always about what's right for

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<v Speaker 2>our clients, and it's making sure that whatever it is

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<v Speaker 2>we do inactive in index ourselves or with others, that

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<v Speaker 2>we keep in mind that we're about simplicity, we're about

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<v Speaker 2>low cost, and we're about long term returns. And I

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<v Speaker 2>think that there are constructs that will allow private markets

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<v Speaker 2>to fit in that. But that's really part of the

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<v Speaker 2>exploration that we're doing because whatever it is we do,

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<v Speaker 2>we want to do it the Vanguard way, and we

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<v Speaker 2>want to do it in a way that's well suited

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<v Speaker 2>to our client base, which is really looking to us

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<v Speaker 2>for a certain set of things that we've consistently delivered

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<v Speaker 2>over the years.

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<v Speaker 1>All right, Seleem got to leave it there. Really appreciate

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<v Speaker 1>you taking the time. That is Vanguard's CEO Salem ramj