Expert insight

Taking Vanguard’s playbook global

July 28, 2026

Vanguard’s international operations have been a relatively small segment of its footprint but are rapidly growing. Vanguard CEO Salim Ramji says the firm is bringing its core values of low costs, simplicity, and access to investors who have, until now, had few good options.

In this video clip, Ramji explains that many everyday investors abroad have historically kept their savings in bank deposits, deterred by investing platforms that are too expensive, too confusing, or simply unavailable. Vanguard sees that gap as an opportunity — and a responsibility. By making investing simpler and more affordable, we are helping a new generation of international investors take their first steps toward building long-term wealth.

Supporting this expansion is a growing ecosystem of independent, fee-based financial advisors in these international markets who are increasingly partnering with Vanguard to serve their clients. Our core principles continue to transcend borders, giving investors access to better-diversified long-term portfolios.

Read the transcript

International is, in the scheme of it, a relatively small part of Vanguard, but it's an incredibly fast-growing part. And we're principally based in markets like the U.K., like Canada, like Australia. And what we found there is that most investors just find investing too complicated. They find it too costly. And there aren't kind of platforms like there are here in the United States to enable them to access it. So, in many cases, what we're helping investors in those markets do is be able to move from being savers, often in bank deposits, to be able to be investors for the first time.

And that mantra of keeping costs low, of keeping it simple, and of making it easy for people to access seems like it's working. And there's a growing population in many of those markets of fee-based advisors, independent fee-based advisors, where Vanguard investors are doing quite well in terms of teaming up with them to be able to help them build kind of even better, even more diversified long-term portfolios.