The LSE Directory / Retail brokers
The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE: SCHW) is a US financial services company operating a discount brokerage, a bank, an asset manager and a custody platform for independent registered investment advisors (RIAs) through its subsidiaries, principally the broker dealer Charles Schwab and Co., Inc. and Charles Schwab Bank. Retail clients trade stocks, ETFs and options commission free on Schwab's own platform and, since the 2020 acquisition of TD Ameritrade, on the thinkorswim active trader platform, which Schwab retained after migrating TD Ameritrade's brokerage accounts fully onto Schwab's systems by May 2024. The company also runs Schwab Intelligent Portfolios, an automated robo-advisor, and offers banking products including checking, savings and mortgages through Schwab Bank. Schwab's principal point of differentiation from other retail brokers is its dual focus on direct-to-consumer trading and Schwab Advisor Services, its custody, trading and practice-management business for independent RIAs; industry reporting places the number of RIA firms custodying assets with Schwab at more than 16,000, with over 5 trillion dollars in assets held on the platform, making it the largest RIA custodian in the United States. This custody business, alongside its scale in retail brokerage, sets it apart from peers that focus on retail trading alone. Schwab has also pushed into workplace retirement plans and, following the 2025 to 2026 Forge Global acquisition, private-market share trading for retail and advisor clients. Schwab was founded in 1971 in San Francisco by Charles R. "Chuck" Schwab as First Commander Corporation, renamed Charles Schwab and Co. in 1973, and became a pioneer of discount stock brokerage after negotiated commissions were deregulated in 1975. The company moved its headquarters from San Francisco to Westlake, Texas, effective January 1, 2021. It eliminated commissions on US stock and ETF trades in October 2019, a move that reshaped pricing across the online brokerage industry, and completed its roughly 26 billion dollar acquisition of TD Ameritrade in October 2020. As of May 2026 Schwab reported total client assets of 13.14 trillion dollars, up 27 percent year over year, across 39.5 million active brokerage accounts, 5.9 million workplace retirement plan participant accounts and 2.3 million banking accounts; the company employs roughly 33,000 people across about 380 branches. In 2022 Schwab paid a 187 million dollar SEC settlement over failing to disclose that its robo-advisor allocated client cash to lower-yielding, Schwab-affiliated bank deposits rather than higher-yielding options. Rick Wurster became CEO on January 1, 2025, succeeding Walt Bettinger. In November 2025 Schwab agreed to acquire Forge Global Holdings, operator of a private company share trading marketplace, for approximately 660 million dollars in cash (45 dollars per Forge share); the deal was approved by Forge shareholders in January 2026 and closed in the first quarter of 2026, extending Schwab's offering into private-market shares for retail and advisor clients.
