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Charles Schwab

Latest Headlines

Latest Headlines

Options trading a good bet for brokerages

The more things change, the more they stay the same. For years, discount brokerages have yearned to diversify, and many of them have. And yet retail trading volume remains a key indicator of their success, albeit not to the same degree as it was five years ago. Still, the media has noted that

Schwab to buy options brokerage

Given the well-publicized woes of Charles Schwab, you might be forgiven if you did not think the company had $1 billion deal in it. But it has announced an eye-catching merger with optionsXpress, which will position Schwab much better in the options market. The deal will generate about $80 mil

Small tech and services start-ups target wirehouses

Top producers continue to stream out of the traditional wirehouses like Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley Smith Barney. Many of those leaving have aligned with an independent advisory

More brokers flee the wirehouses

Are wirehouse brokerage firms doomed? Let's just say they are finding it hard to hang on to their top brokers. We've noted before that top producers are continuing to be recruited by independents, and despite some rules that make it hard to switch, more top producers are doing so. This is bad

Social networking still going slow at brokerages

Back in January, FINRA announced some guidelines for brokerages that wanted to get into social networking. The guidance emphasized that firms must develop policies and procedures--in the context of

Fidelity aims at top producers at wirehouses

So who's winning the war between the independent financial advisors and the behemoth wirehouses? Fidelity Investments thinks the independents are winning big. The custody units of Charles Schwab and Fidelity took in $80 billion in the first nine months of 2010, according to a Fidelity executiv

A look at BATS' new exchange

Some old-timers in the industry still have a hard acknowledging that third largest exchange company in the United States, based in Lenexa, Kansas. But BATS has no plans to moderate its growth. It

Brokerage earnings to hold up?

We're in a mean season for brokerage firms. Many thought more retail asset management was just what the premier banks needed in their bid to develop steady streams of revenue to offset expected declines in other areas. We'll get a spot check of sorts on the industry when Bank of America releas

Vanguard launches new ETFs

Is this a symbolic product launch or what: Vanguard will soon launch a new exchange traded fund (ETF) based on its Vanguard 500 index fund, which was its very first index fund for individual investors. ETFs are not going to seriously threaten the index fund market soon. But in terms of mind share

Bank of America Merrill Lynch to launch online brokerage

It looks like Bank of America Merrill Lynch ( NYSE: BAC ) is going downstream: it has launched a new online brokerage called Merrill Edge, which looks like it wants to compete with the likes of Charles