Schwab Head Optimistic about Poaching from Wirehouses

March 02, 2010 --- Bernie Clark, head of Charles Schwab Advisor Services, expects to continue gain more assets from the wirehouse channel, he said at an event today in New York City. ---

While traditionally assets move from wirehouse to wirehouse, Clark said more assets are flowing into the independent space (including independent broker/dealers and registered investment advisers). “I do believe it’s not a wave; it’s something that will show consistent movement over time,” he said.

Schwab’s semiannual Independent Advisor Outlook Study, released today, found that 46% of RIAs’ new clients came from full-service wirehouse firms. Surveyed independent advisers reported that clients are leaving wirehouse firms because of lost of trust in their previous firms (65%), followed closely by a desire for more personalized advice (59%).

While custodians such as Schwab have reported an uptick in the number of assets gained from wirehouse firms, industry data show that only a small slice of wirehouse advisers choose to “break away” to the independent channel (see “How Many Brokers Really Went Independent in 2009?”).

Overall, the overwhelming majority of advisers surveyed by Schwab reported gaining new assets in the next six months, with 76% coming from other firms. Schwab remains the largest custodian for independent advisers, with $590 billion under assets as of December 31.

As for retirement plans, Clark said Schwab will continue to leverage any opportunity in the retirement plan arena (about 20% of Schwab advisers work with retirement plans). He told PLANADVISER that Schwab Advisor Services is working more closely with its institutional side; for example, this year Schwab is combining its IMPACT conference for advisers and its ADVANTAGE conference for third-party administrator (TPA) conference.

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