By Daniel Bases

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Charles Schwab Corp said
Tuesday it has no plans to change its commission-free trading
policy on in-house branded exchange traded funds (ETFs), a move
that triggered a price war among retail brokerages.

Schwab launched eight ETFs in November that can be
traded online without commission fees, in an effort to increase
its presence in a booming corner of the financial markets.

When asked if Schwab would maintain a no-commission policy
on its in-house ETFs, Peter Crawford, senior vice president at
Schwab said: "Certainly it will continue at Schwab."

Crawford, who is responsible for product management,
development and wholesaling of all Schwab's mutual funds, was a
member of a panel discussing the ETF industry in New York.

He later told Reuters: "There are no plans for any
(commission fees). This is not just a three or six month
thing."

Schwab launched three bond ETFs on Aug. 5.

Several retail brokerages including Vanguard Group, TD
Ameritrade Holding Corp and Fidelity of Boston have
recently slashed fees on ETF trading to seize market share.

"Seems it is a race to the bottom," Sue Thompson, the head
of the registered investment advisory group at industry
heavyweight iShares, said during the same conference. Money
manager BlackRock Inc bought iShares for $13.5 billion
from Barclays Global Investors in late 2009.
(Reporting by Daniel Bases; writing by Walter Brandimarte;
editing by Andre Grenon)