Schwab’s Next Target? Your Financial Adviser
Discount brokers are losing revenue from commission-free trading. They have to make it up somewhere.
There’s a showdown looming between financial advisers and the custodians that safeguard their clients’ money. It’s been brewing for some time, and the move by Charles Schwab Corp. on Tuesday to offer commission-free trading makes the clash all but inevitable.
Retail investors know Schwab as a discount broker, but it’s also a custodian for financial advisers who break away from banks, insurance companies and other financial firms, or set up shop on their own. Those advisers need someone to house client accounts and execute trades, and firms such as Schwab, Fidelity Investments, Bank of New York Mellon Corp. and TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. are popular choices. (My asset-management firm works with Schwab and TD Ameritrade.)