Rising concerns over pending regulatory changes and customers moving cash to higher-yielding accounts in the wake of several regional bank collapses have erased more than $60 billion in market value from Schwab’s January highs.
“Schwab, as a broker that owns a bank, could theoretically de-bank, and return to operating the way it did historically, which was a focus on sweeping cash into money market funds and earning an elevated management fee rather than an even larger spread,” he wrote. While Schwab could operate without a bank, such a change would be costly and is an outcome the firm’s management would be unlikely to support, Worthington said in his note.