Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2: Please to saying that joining us around the table here
Speaker 2: in New York request of the President and CEO of
Speaker 2: Child swamp Rick is good to see us.
Speaker 1: Sir Jonathan, thanks for having me in.
Speaker 2: Approaching one hundred days in the job. Have you slept.
Speaker 1: It's been a busy period. We've been actively supporting our
Speaker 1: clients and helping them get to where they need to
Speaker 1: be in their financial life, so probably not as much
Speaker 1: sleep as I would like.
Speaker 2: I'm sure you're probably not going to catch up on
Speaker 2: sleep anytime soon, given the headlines we've got elsewhere. Looking
Speaker 2: at those forty four million client accounts just help us
Speaker 2: understand what activities look like, how they're responding to all
Speaker 2: of this incoming information.
Speaker 1: Our clients are actively engaged. Last year, we did about
Speaker 1: six million trades a day on average. In January we
Speaker 1: did seven million. We're doing even more of the last
Speaker 1: six weeks, so our clients are engaged. We're not seeing
Speaker 1: any signs of significant nervousness. In fact, we've seen our
Speaker 1: margin levels over the last months stay relatively flat. Those
Speaker 1: with margin have been leaning inequities. The last week I
Speaker 1: went and visited five of our retail branches in North
Speaker 1: Carolina yesterday and I walked into our Raleigh branch and
Speaker 1: met Gloria, who's at our front desk, and I asked her, Gloria,
Speaker 1: what are clients saying when they come in our doors?
Speaker 1: Are they nervous? And she said, you know what, We've
Speaker 1: had a couple that are nervous, but more than anything,
Speaker 1: they're bringing in checks and they want to get more
Speaker 1: money into the market. So I thought that was a
Speaker 1: good sign.
Speaker 3: This is fascinating and it really skews with some of
Speaker 3: what we're hearing from Wall Street analysts who are saying
Speaker 3: we're just looking for the right levels to buy the dip,
Speaker 3: and it sounds like retail investors have been conditioned in
Speaker 3: the same way. At what point are you going to
Speaker 3: get worried that maybe they're being conditioned in the wrong way? Say,
Speaker 3: if there isn't that balance that we've become used to.
Speaker 1: Well in the seventies, Check wrote our investing principles, and
Speaker 1: they're all about taking a long term view of markets
Speaker 1: being diversified, having a plan, and sticking with that plan.
Speaker 1: And I think when markets go up, when markets go down,
Speaker 1: those are the principles we come back to it's hard
Speaker 1: to have a view on short term what's going to
Speaker 1: happen on markets. Those investing principles we think work and
Speaker 1: you're seeing it this year where at diversified portfolio, European
Speaker 1: stocks are doing well, Gold's doing well. There's assets that
Speaker 1: are performing well. So our clients that have taken that
Speaker 1: advice are hanging in there.
Speaker 3: So retail investors are often painted with a brush where
Speaker 3: they buy Bitcoin and Tesla and AMC and game Stop
Speaker 3: and then they held the breath and keep buying when
Speaker 3: things go down. What is the picture of the retail
Speaker 3: client of Charles Schwab that you're going after.
Speaker 1: Well, we see seven million plus trades a day. We
Speaker 1: see more than two times of trades of any other
Speaker 1: retail brokerage. So we do feel like we have a
Speaker 1: pulse on how retail investors trade, and I think they
Speaker 1: trade very thoughtfully. We've got a range of investors, some
Speaker 1: of who are buying Tesla, who are have been invested
Speaker 1: in bitcoin and made a lot of money doing so.
Speaker 1: But we also have a lot of investors that play
Speaker 1: for the long term. But I think, you know, our
Speaker 1: investors are really thoughtful, they're engaged they listen to your show,
Speaker 1: they listen to Lasana and Jeff clientp and our thoughtful
Speaker 1: anelsts trying to make the right long term decision for
Speaker 1: them and their financial plan.
Speaker 4: I'm getting to center you that your investors are not
Speaker 4: concerned about the uncertainty emanating from Washington, DC.
Speaker 1: I think again, we try to coach our investors to
Speaker 1: take a long term view. I'm sure we have clients
Speaker 1: that are that are nervous about whatever the policy of
Speaker 1: the day may be or the news flow of the day.
Speaker 1: But in large part, one of the great things about
Speaker 1: SCHWAB is we have a lot of different ways to
Speaker 1: engage clients. We've spoken with over six hundred thousand clients
Speaker 1: in the last week. We're able to remind them that
Speaker 1: they have a plan, that these are the times to
Speaker 1: stick to their plan, and we try to remove them
Speaker 1: from the news cycle.
Speaker 2: So this is token to you as a market ponticipant.
Speaker 2: Let's talk to you as a business leader. You've got
Speaker 2: to run a company. We're hanging from a lot of
Speaker 2: companies right now that they're just hitting polls and they're
Speaker 2: waiting to get Clarency on policy. I imagine you'll not
Speaker 2: hitting polls. Can you woc us through what your plan
Speaker 2: looks like for the next several years.
Speaker 1: We're not hitting pause at all. Twenty twenty five is
Speaker 1: a lift off year for our company. We've spent the
Speaker 1: last couple of years integrating a maror trade industry, and
Speaker 1: now we have the benefit of having the best of
Speaker 1: everything that Schwab has and the best of everything Ameritrade
Speaker 1: has for our clients. So the future is all about
Speaker 1: growth and we are seeing our growth accelerating through the
Speaker 1: first quarter. We've seen significant levels of client engagement. So
Speaker 1: it's for us from a business standpoint where we are thriving.
Speaker 3: So you're not cutting down on travel and forcfway to
Speaker 3: come back to the office and saying, guys, it's time
Speaker 3: to tighten the ship.
Speaker 1: We've not taken any of those actions.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 3: The reason what we ask is if we're wondering how
Speaker 3: much this is trickling out, although it could be a
Speaker 3: somewhat counter cyclical business as you go forward, when you
Speaker 3: are expanding, who are you going after at a time
Speaker 3: where a lot of the big private asset firms are
Speaker 3: trying to broaden out into private markets for retail clients,
Speaker 3: and that's the increasing holy grail for a lot of
Speaker 3: the big banks as well. Who are you going after?
Speaker 3: Who's your competitor?
Speaker 1: Well, in terms of who we're working with, we work
Speaker 1: with clients across all age and wealth spectrums and advisors
Speaker 1: of all sizes. You know, we have one out of
Speaker 1: every six American households with more than twenty million dollars
Speaker 1: in our country works with Charles Schwab. And at the
Speaker 1: same time, we're crushing it with young investors. Sixty percent
Speaker 1: of our new investors last year we're under the age
Speaker 1: of forty and a third we're under the age of thirty.
Speaker 1: So we are really thriving across age and wealth spectrums.
Speaker 1: There is a lot of demand for alternative assets, and
Speaker 1: we're working with great firms like KKR and others that
Speaker 1: are bringing their capabilities to the retail investor, and I
Speaker 1: think that's a great thing. Historically that's been for institutions only,
Speaker 1: and now we can bring it to our retail clients.
Speaker 3: Are other business leaders you talk to as confident and
Speaker 3: as excited as you.
Speaker 1: Are, Well, their business has their own dynamics. For us,
Speaker 1: you know, we're in a lift off fields them.
Speaker 3: The reason why I'm asking is because we've been talking
Speaker 3: about uncertainty and we're seeing it in the data, whether
Speaker 3: it's small business confidence, whether it's business confidence. More broadly,
Speaker 3: are you saying you just don't see it or are
Speaker 3: you saying that your business is somewhat immune to it.
Speaker 1: We feel like we have an all weather business model.
Speaker 1: The newsflow for us that drives activity and engagement, and
Speaker 1: it brings investors into the market. And you know, we've
Speaker 1: had seven eight million trades a day, which is a
Speaker 1: lot for our business and drives our economics. So you know,
Speaker 1: the market engagement is a good thing for us. You know,
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, what's most important to
Speaker 1: us so is that our clients are doing well, and
Speaker 1: that's where we put our energy into making sure we
Speaker 1: can help them in the channel of their choice, get
Speaker 1: to where they want to be in their financial life.
Speaker 1: That's what drives us. When our clients do well, we
Speaker 1: do well.
Speaker 4: Rick, what's it like working with the president because you
Speaker 4: are advising them on this offspin of this Trump linked
Speaker 4: truthfi associated with Trump media.
Speaker 1: Well, we've worked with administrations and regulators for fifty years,
Speaker 1: and we've tried to work with clients across all aisles
Speaker 1: we are supportive of our country. We are Americans. We
Speaker 1: support forty four million American client accounts, and we want
Speaker 1: investors of all types to do well well.
Speaker 2: The financial services industry might have a new regulations and
Speaker 2: this is a name we've got for you. According to
Speaker 2: a person familiar with the matter, the Trump administration will
Speaker 2: nominate Federal Reserve Governor Mickey Bowman as Vice Chair for
Speaker 2: Supervision as soon as today. You will recall that Michael Barr,
Speaker 2: of course, resigned earlier on this year as the FED
Speaker 2: Vice Chair for Supervision. Mickey Bowman, of course nominated by
Speaker 2: President Trump in his first term to become a governor
Speaker 2: of the Federal Reserve. A lot of people not seeing
Speaker 2: this as a surprise. I matched this morning. This is
Speaker 2: a name we had in the hat, not just for
Speaker 2: this role, but also for the FED chair role that
Speaker 2: might open up further down the road, right, And.
Speaker 4: This is someone that Trump administration has looked kindly on
Speaker 4: first person for people to put her there in the chair.
Speaker 4: So this really isn't a surprise, but it is interesting.
Speaker 4: We are getting some clarity as we keep talking about
Speaker 4: uncertainty coming out of Washington. This is one place where
Speaker 4: we do have a name and some clarification.
Speaker 3: It also means that she's not going to be nominated
Speaker 3: to be potentially fed chair, which opens up the seat
Speaker 3: to potentially somebody else who seems to maybe want to
Speaker 3: be fed Chair.
Speaker 2: Rick afinal word on regulation, Have you got everything you want?
Speaker 1: I think Governor Roman's going to be a great choice
Speaker 1: her personally. I think she's a very thoughtful person. It's
Speaker 1: going to be great for the great, great for supervision.
Speaker 1: I imagine a lot of people might agree with you. Rick,
Speaker 1: it's going to see us, sir, thanks for breaking things
Speaker 1: down for us. Appreciate the update, Thanks for having me on,
Speaker 1: and thanks for being a good friend of this program
Speaker 1: over the years too.
Speaker 2: We appreciate it. Rick west of There, the Chow Swap CEO,