Schwab Reports Third Quarter Results

Successfully Completed Largest Brokerage Conversion Event in History

September Core Net New Assets Exceeded $27 Billion

Bank Sweep Deposits Grew During September

The Charles Schwab Corporation announced today that its net income for the third quarter of 2023 was $1.1 billion compared with $2.0 billion for the third quarter of 2022. Net income for the nine months ended September 30, 2023 was $4.0 billion, compared with $5.2 billion for the year-earlier period.

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Co-Chairman and CEO Walt Bettinger stated, “Against a very challenging economic and geopolitical backdrop, investors continued turning to Schwab as a trusted partner and a wealth management leader. It is truly humbling to see our clients award us with near-record Client Promoter Scores and allow us the privilege to help them move toward their financial goals – particularly during a period where the U.S. government narrowly avoided a shutdown, major equity markets posted a quarterly loss, and long-term interest rates touched levels not seen in many years. Third parties also continue to recognize the firm, with Investor’s Business Daily naming us one of its most trusted financial services firms and Charles Schwab Bank as its most trusted bank for 2023.”

“By seeing ‘through clients’ eyes’ for the last 50 years, we have earned consistent confidence from investors that helps power our strong organic growth,” continued Mr. Bettinger. “During the third quarter, we gathered $46 billion in core net new assets, including $27 billion in September following the completion of our latest Ameritrade client conversion cohort. While expected deal-related attrition has temporarily weighed on net new asset flows, our underlying growth recipe remains very much intact. Year-to-date, we have attracted $248 billion of core net new assets from accounts originally opened at Schwab – an annualized Schwab originated organic growth rate of over 6%. As of September 30, investors have entrusted us with a total of $7.82 trillion in client assets across 34.5 million accounts.”

Mr. Bettinger added, “Over Labor Day Weekend, we successfully completed the single largest conversion event in our industry’s history. During those three days, we transitioned $1.3 trillion in client assets – including more than 7,000 Registered Investment Advisors (RIA) served by the Ameritrade Institutional business and 3.6 million retail accounts. The thoughtful planning and relentless dedication of our employees helped ensure there were no significant disruptions to the client experience and overall service levels remained strong – including answering client calls in under 1 minute. We have now converted approximately 80% of Ameritrade client assets and accounts, with deal-related attrition tracking markedly better than our initial expectations. In addition to these favorable retention trends, engagement levels across recently converted clients has also picked up – including positive new account formation and net asset flows across both Retail and RIA clients.”

Mr. Bettinger concluded, “Concurrent with progressing the Ameritrade integration, we remain focused on further enhancing Schwab’s modern wealth platform by advancing our key strategic initiatives of scale and efficiency, win-win monetization, and segmentation. We have identified a number of opportunities for increased efficiency, including capturing the remaining deal expense synergies, streamlining our operational design, aligning our geographic footprint to match our hybrid workforce, and harnessing the benefits of increased automation. Once fully implemented, we expect these actions to deliver at least $1 billion of incremental annual expense savings. Even as we seek to improve upon our industry leading cost structure, we are continuing to enhance our segmented offering for the broad range of clients we serve. For clients seeking assistance with their portfolios, our wealth management solutions attracted year-to-date net flows of $24 billion – including record flows into Schwab Wealth Advisory™, Wasmer Schroeder™ Strategies, and Schwab Personalized Indexing^®. At the same time, Schwab is expanding the suite of tools and resources available to self-directed investors to help them achieve better financial outcomes. Today we announced the launch of our new end-to-end trader experience that combines access to thinkorswim^® with curated education for all levels and specialized service and support. This offer is tailored to meet the specific needs of a highly engaged client group that on average maintains approximately 4x more assets at the firm relative to other retail households while also utilizing a broad array of other products offered across Schwab. Continuing to invest in our platform allows us to meet the evolving needs of investors, while keeping us positioned for sustained growth over time.”

CFO Peter Crawford noted, “Our continued success with clients and diversified model helped produce third quarter net revenues of $4.6 billion. This result represents a 16% decline from last year’s record period, primarily driven by the temporary utilization of higher cost funding, lower interest-earning assets, and softer trading volumes. Net interest revenue was down 24% year-over-year to $2.2 billion, reflecting the impact of client allocation decisions within a higher interest rate environment. However, cash realignment activity decelerated further during the quarter – even with the brief uptick in August and an increase in long-term interest rates. September was particularly strong as net outflows from transactional cash were lower than any prior monthly period this cycle and bank sweep deposits increased month-over-month for the first time since March 2022. Additionally, the combination of ongoing interest in Schwab’s proprietary fund products, growth in no-transaction fee platform balances, and strong flows into our advised solutions pushed asset management and administration fees to a quarterly record of $1.2 billion, up 17% versus the prior year.”

“We maintained Schwab’s balanced approach to expense management while successfully reaching another key checkpoint in the Ameritrade integration effort,” added Mr. Crawford. “GAAP expenses were up 14% to $3.2 billion, including $106 million in acquisition and integration-related costs, $135 million in amortization of acquired intangibles, and $279 million in costs related to our previously announced restructuring. Exclusive of those items, adjusted total expenses ⁽¹⁾ equaled $2.7 billion, or a year-over-year increase of 5%. Pre-tax profit margins finished the quarter at 30.0%, or 41.3% on an adjusted ⁽¹⁾ basis – the 12^th consecutive quarter above 40%.”

Mr. Crawford concluded, “During the quarter, our balance sheet management continued to prioritize flexibility in support of our growing client base. In late August, we issued approximately $2.4 billion of senior notes across two tranches due in 2026 and 2034, further bolstering our diversified liquidity profile. Schwab’s consolidated balance sheet totaled $475 billion at quarter-end, down 7% sequentially, as available net cash flows from our investment portfolio were used to pay down supplemental borrowings. Our capital levels also continued to build during the quarter as our consolidated Tier 1 Leverage ratio increased to 8.2% and our Adjusted Tier 1 Leverage Ratio ⁽¹⁾ expanded by more than 40 basis points to 4.1%. Ratios at Charles Schwab Bank, SSB (CSB) followed a similar trajectory with CSB Tier 1 Leverage increasing to 9.6%, or 4.4% on an adjusted ⁽¹⁾ basis. As we move towards a new year, our consistent strategy, key competitive advantages, and ‘through the cycle’ financial model keep us well-positioned to deliver long-term value to all of our stakeholders.”

Commentary from the CFO

Periodically, our Chief Financial Officer provides insight and commentary regarding Schwab’s financial picture at: https://www.aboutschwab.com/cfo-commentary. The most recent commentary, which provides perspective on client cash realignment trends and second quarter revenue expectations, was posted on June 14, 2023.

Fall Business Update

The company will host its Fall Business Update for institutional investors this morning from 8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. CT, 9:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. ET. Registration for this Update webcast is accessible at https://www.aboutschwab.com/schwabevents.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements relating to the company’s strategy and approach; growth in the client base, client accounts, and assets; Ameritrade integration and deal-related attrition; opportunities for increased efficiency and resulting incremental annual expense savings; positioning; success with clients; model; competitive advantages; and stakeholder value. These forward-looking statements reflect management’s expectations as of the date hereof. Achievement of these expectations and objectives is subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the expressed expectations.

Important factors that may cause such differences include, but are not limited to, the company’s ability to attract and retain clients and independent investment advisors and grow those relationships and client assets; develop and launch new and enhanced products, services, and capabilities, as well as enhance its infrastructure and capacity, in a timely and successful manner; hire and retain talent; support client activity levels; successfully implement integration strategies and plans; capture Ameritrade deal expense synergies, streamline its operational design, align its real estate footprint, and harness the benefits of automation in order to deliver expected incremental annual expense savings, and the costs incurred in connection with such actions; manage expenses; and monetize client assets. Other important factors include client use of the company’s advisory solutions and other products and services; general market conditions, including the level of interest rates and equity valuations; asset attrition from clients originating at Ameritrade is higher than expected; client cash allocation decisions; client sensitivity to rates; level of client assets, including cash balances; competitive pressures on pricing; the level and mix of client trading activity; market volatility; capital and liquidity needs and management; balance sheet positioning relative to changes in interest rates; interest earning asset mix and growth; new or changed legislation, regulation or regulatory expectations; and other factors set forth in the company’s most recent reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q.

About Charles Schwab

The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE: SCHW) is a leading provider of financial services, with 34.5 million active brokerage accounts, 2.5 million corporate retirement plan participants, 1.8 million banking accounts, and $7.82 trillion in client assets. Through its operating subsidiaries, the company provides a full range of wealth management, securities brokerage, banking, asset management, custody, and financial advisory services to individual investors and independent investment advisors. Its broker-dealer subsidiaries, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., TD Ameritrade, Inc., and TD Ameritrade Clearing, Inc., (members SIPC, https://www.sipc.org), and their affiliates offer a complete range of investment services and products including an extensive selection of mutual funds; financial planning and investment advice; retirement plan and equity compensation plan services; referrals to independent, fee-based investment advisors; and custodial, operational and trading support for independent, fee-based investment advisors through Schwab Advisor Services. Its primary banking subsidiary, Charles Schwab Bank, SSB (member FDIC and an Equal Housing Lender), provides banking and lending services and products. More information is available at https://www.aboutschwab.com. TD Ameritrade, Inc. and TD Ameritrade Clearing, Inc. are separate but affiliated companies and subsidiaries of TD Ameritrade Holding Corporation. TD Ameritrade Holding Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Charles Schwab Corporation. TD Ameritrade is a trademark jointly owned by TD Ameritrade IP Company, Inc. and The Toronto-Dominion Bank.