Vanguard is changing the benchmarks for 22 of its international stock index funds and U.S. stock and balanced index funds, which the company hopes will save shareholders money over time.

The company plans to transition six international stock index funds, with assets of $170 billion, to FTSE benchmarks, and 16 U.S. stock and balanced index funds, with aggregate assets of $367 billion, to new benchmarks developed by the University of Chicago's Center for Research in Security Prices (CRSP).

"The indexes from FTSE and CRSP are well constructed, offer comprehensive coverage of their respective markets, and meet Vanguard's 'best practice' standards for market benchmarks," said Vanguard Chief Investment Officer Gus Sauter. "Equally important, and with our clients' best interests in mind, we negotiated licensing agreements for these benchmarks that we expect will enable us to deliver significant value to our index fund and ETF shareholders and lower expense ratios over time."