Schwab: Expanding Advice Not At Risk of ‘Bumping Into’ RIAs
Charles Schwab’s head of advisor services made the case to press on Thursday that expanding the firm’s retail wealth advisory division would not compete with its registered investment advisor custodial clients.
“There’s a $37 trillion opportunity out there for all of us,” Managing Director Jon Beatty said during a mid-year virtual press briefing, referencing assets not yet held by RIAs. “We rarely bump into each other in the marketplace.”
Beatty noted the vast wealth in the U.S. that is “looking for the fiduciary model for RIAs,” and emphasized the firm’s focus on working with its 16,000 RIA clients across custodial services and other products, including investment options and client banking services.
Schwab Wealth Advisory, its full-service wealth management division for retail clients, has offices in 20 markets and plans to expand to 10 more this year, according to a spokesperson and comments from executives during an investor day on May 14.
The wealth advisory offices are separate from the firm’s client-facing retail branches, which are staffed by financial consultants and branch team members, according to the spokesperson. The firm has already been adding to that branch network in recent years, having announced in 2025 that it would open 16 new branches while expanding or relocating 25 more, for a division overseeing $771 billion in retail assets and 2,120 financial consultants.
“The reason for that in-market presence is so that wealth advisors can strengthen regional connectivity with Schwab’s financial consultants that they partner with and retail clients in those markets,” the spokesperson wrote via email. “Wealth advisors mostly meet with clients virtually, as they always have, and in partnership with branch financial consultants.”
Trade publication RIABiz first reported on the expansion.
Beatty told reporters the firm has been and will continue to be transparent with RIAs about its retail wealth management business. He said Schwab Wealth Advisory has been around for over a decade and exists so Schwab financial consultants can refer clients. He also noted that those referrals also go to RIAs through its Schwab Advisor Network.
“There is no other custodian that has referred more business to advisors than Charles Schwab, and I think by multiples,” he said. “That’s how much we believe in the RIA business model that we would refer our own retail clients at the scale that we do every year for advisors.”
Mike Watson, EVP, head of securities at Axos Bank, which provides clearing and custodial services to RIAs, said he sees the wealth services expansion as a “monumental shift” in the industry.
“30 branches isn’t a pilot—it’s a strategy,” said Watson, whose Axos competes with Schwab for RIA clients.
Watson said Schwab has been inching toward becoming a full-service financial provider for years, with its push to provide financial advice to wealthier clients as a clear indicator that it will funnel client referrals to its own advisors.
“Saying there’s enough for everyone is a reasonable thing to say publicly,” Watson said. “But the market doesn’t work that way. Every client those advisors serve in those branches that didn’t go with, or stay with an independent RIA is … still a lost client relationship.”
During the call, Beatty said he has always told clients to email him if they see any potential conflicts. He said he received one email in the last 12 months, and that it was resolved “in about 15 minutes.”
“Hopefully, today you’re hearing our passion for serving advisors,” Beatty said. “But at the same time, we have to be passionate about serving our retail clients. … Investors have been asking everybody for more help and advice, and we will respond to that in the marketplace to meet our clients in their time of need.”
During the call, Beatty stressed Schwab’s efforts to go beyond custodial services by offering advisors access to investment and banking services, as well as consulting and guidance.
Jalina Kerr, managing director, advisor experience and platform solutions at Schwab, said a program introduced last year, where company ambassadors help RIAs seeking to expand into higher-net-worth clients, had been “overwhelmed by the interest” from advisors.
Kerr said one of the hottest topics is finding liquidity solutions for RIAs working with UHNW clients, which the ambassador can work with the advisor to propose. She said the Westlake, Texas-based Schwab would continue to add services to the program, including lending to small business owners.
Alison Dooher, Schwab’s managing director, wealth services and platforms, spoke about the firm’s focus on artificial intelligence to create a “super-agent” for advisors using the firm’s custodial and other services, which can both answer questions across platforms and raise issues proactively.
“Think about it sitting across your operational needs, but also across the portfolio management tools and performance reporting tools that a lot of our advisors utilize, so across the entire tech stack,” she said. “This is very similar to how RIAs are thinking about it within their own businesses, sitting across the various capabilities … that is the progression you will start to see from us.”
Schwab CEO Rick Wurster has spoken extensively about the firm’s AI integrations after its stock took a hit earlier this year, as investors became spooked by the idea that AI could undercut financial services businesses. Other publicly-listed firms that saw a brief sell-off included Ameriprise Financial, LPL Financial, Raymond James, and Stifel Financial.