Thrivent Launches Two International Equity ETFs, Expanding Its ETF Product Suite
Thrivent recently launched two new international equity exchange-traded funds (ETFs) — Thrivent International Large Cap ETF (NASDAQ: TILC) and Thrivent International Small Cap ETF (NASDAQ: TISC) — expanding its ETF product suite and providing investors with broader access to the international markets.
Below, Mike Kremenak, president of Thrivent Funds, shares why Thrivent is expanding into international equity ETFs and how these strategies can help meet the needs of clients and financial advisors.
What prompted Thrivent to launch international equity ETFs now?
We’re continuing to see growing interest in ETFs from both investors and advisors because of the unique attributes they offer, like flexibility and tax efficiency. They can serve as great building blocks in client portfolios with access to different asset classes.
With these new ETFs, we’re giving our clients access to international equity markets, complementing U.S. equity exposure and supporting long-term diversification goals. These new products span both large and small cap international strategies.
How does this fit into Thrivent’s broader investment product strategy?
When we consider new investment product development, we're guided by some key principles:
- We start with our clients, focusing on scalable solutions that support their needs and align with Thrivent’s approach to purpose-based advice.
- We design smart and practical investment solutions to help clients achieve their financial goals.
- We leverage our investment expertise and deliver it through different product vehicles, including mutual funds, SMAs and ETFs, to meet market demand.
The new ETFs are a natural extension of that strategy: designed to meet client needs, drawing on our investment expertise, and serving as long-term building blocks in a well-diversified client portfolio.
For readers who may be newer to ETFs, what are you hearing from financial advisors and clients about why ETFs are appealing right now?
There are some key features driving interest in ETFs, including:
- Tax efficiency: ETFs typically generate fewer taxable events compared to mutual funds.
- Costs: Look at expense ratios and any brokerage fees—ETFs often have lower costs than other options.
- Liquidity: ETFs trade throughout the day, so intraday flexibility may be important.
- Portfolio fit: Investors should think about how an ETF complements existing holdings and adds diversification.
They’re a great complement to the other solutions we offer, including mutual funds and SMAs, giving clients greater efficiency, flexibility and diversification.
Can you walk us through the two new offerings — TILC and TISC — and the role each could play in a diversified portfolio?
TILC and TISC are both designed to give clients access to international equities in a simple, diversified way. TILC focuses on large, established international companies, while TISC focuses on smaller international companies that have a smaller market value. Together, they can serve as complementary building blocks for diversification in global markets.
Can you share more about the investment process for these funds?
The portfolio management team follows a disciplined, systematic investment process powered by proprietary quantitative models to analyze large data sets and identify opportunities across international large and small cap equities.
They look at a range of factors, time horizons and modeling techniques to build a well-diversified portfolio that’s designed to outperform over time. Throughout the process, our portfolio managers apply their judgment to help balance risk and expected return as they manage and refine the models.
When investors choose our funds, they’re tapping into our investment capabilities and can have confidence in the deep expertise of our seasoned investment team, who bring years of experience across different market environments and economic cycles.
TILC is a conversion of the Thrivent Core International Equity Fund, while TISC is a new strategy. What should investors understand about the conversion versus a new ETF launch?
Both TILC and TISC are available to retail investors, but have come to market in different ways.
TILC was converted from the Thrivent Core International Equity Fund, which was previously an internal fund used to bring diversification in our mixed asset funds. And here’s why: it wasn’t available externally as a standalone fund. With this conversion, we’re bringing an established strategy into an ETF wrapper—preserving the track record of the fund while maintaining a similar strategy that’s focused on large international companies.
TISC is built on our experience managing international small cap equities in an internal sleeve across several Thrivent funds and portfolios since 2023.
With this launch, Thrivent now offers seven ETFs with total AUM exceeding $2 billion, spanning domestic and international equities and fixed income strategies. How has the growth of the ETF lineup shaped Thrivent’s plans to continue expanding the suite?
At Thrivent, we make product decisions based on the needs of our clients, so when we add a fund, it’s because we believe it could be a valuable building block to help them meet their financial goals.
We take an intentional, long-term approach to expanding our investment product suite and add products when our strong investment expertise can meet investor demand, add value for clients and drive growth.
Investing involves risks, including the possible loss of principal. The prospectus and summary prospectus contain more complete information on the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of the fund, and other information, which investors should read and consider carefully before investing. Prospectuses and summary prospectuses are available at thriventETFs.com.
Investments in international securities are subject to market, equity, and foreign securities risk, including economic, political, and market structure risks, particularly in emerging markets. Equity securities of both large and smaller companies may be volatile; large companies may be slower to respond to competitive challenges and may have lower growth potential, while smaller companies may experience greater price volatility and reduced liquidity. Exposure to specific regions, sectors, or investment styles may increase volatility. Each ETF is newly formed and has a limited operating history.
Diversification does not eliminate the risk of experiencing investment losses.
ALPS Distributors, Inc., member FINRA, is the distributor for Thrivent ETFs. Thrivent Distributors, LLC is the marketing agent and asset management services are provided by Thrivent Asset Management, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. Thrivent Distributors, LLC and Thrivent Asset Management, LLC are subsidiaries of Thrivent, the marketing name for Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. ALPS Distributors, Inc. is not affiliated with Thrivent or any of its subsidiaries.
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