Schwab Continues to Lose TD Advisory Assets

In its latest monthly update, Charles Schwab said that assets previously held at TD Ameritrade continue to leave the firm.

Most of these deal-related outflows are tied to “Ameritrade RIA clients, including a select number of relationships that did not meet our criteria for an ongoing service relationship,” Chief Financial Officer Peter Crawford said early Friday.

In August, the firm’s core net new assets dropped 64% to $4.9 billion from $13.7 billion in July and decreased 89% from $43.3 billion a year ago.

Core net new assets, excluding flows originating in Ameritrade accounts, were $28.1 billion, the firm said. Asset flows from accounts originating solely at Schwab remain “robust,” according to Crawford, and are “up 15% year to date relative to the same period in 2022.”

In July, Schwab’s core net new assets fell 59% to $13.7 billion from June and 57% from a year ago. Total client assets were $8.24 trillion in July, up 3% from June and 13% from the year-ago period — similar to the 3% monthly jump and 13% 12-month uptick in the S&P 500. 

When it reported its July activity on Aug. 14, the Westlake, Texas-based company said it had lower net flows of client money due to the loss of some TD Ameritrade retail client assets that had recently migrated to Schwab and some advisory clients’ assets expected to do so over Labor Day weekend. 

The firm recently ended some custodial work earlier done by TD Ameritrade’s institutional business, which it found was “inconsistent with our approach to serving” RIAs, Crawford said in a statement in mid-August.

Crawford stressed then that the firm views recent attrition as likely to “subside following the completion of the final transition group [from TD Ameritrade] during the first half of 2024.”