Schwab Reaches Milestones in Online Business: $50 Billion in Online Assets, 700,000 In Active Online Accounts; Schwab Comprises One-Half of Online Brokerage Industry

Business Wire, March 17, 1997

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 17, 1997--Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., the largest provider of online brokerage services, today reached two significant milestones with its online brokerage business: $50 billion in online customer assets and 700,000 active online accounts.

A recent comprehensive study by Forrester Research, Inc. estimated total online investing dollars at $111.4 billion with 1.5 million online investing accounts.

"We are pleased to announce these milestones as they demonstrate both our leading market share position and investor trust in our online brokerage services," said Charles R. Schwab, chairman.

"Internet trading and other online brokerage services are revolutionizing financial services for investors much like the introduction of discount brokerage did more than 20 years ago," said Schwab, who pioneered the discount brokerage industry in 1974 and started offering online trading services in 1984.

"Today, Schwab provides investors by far the largest, most extensive online offering in the industry, and we are committed to expanding our lead with even better access and information services for investors. We will continue to build capacity, redundancy and reliability, further building investor trust and confidence in this rapidly evolving and competitive arena," said Schwab.

"While there are dozens of new firms entering the fragmented online trading marketplace -- most with limited experience, staff and capital, we believe investors will continue to move their serious money to firms they know and trust," he continued. "We are fully committed to setting the standard for online investing, providing a variety of services that meet our customers' personal needs and habits."

By using a personal computer, Schwab customers can trade via the Web (www.schwab.com), through proprietary software packages and through America Online, CompuServe and Microsoft Investor. As with all Schwab accounts, online customers may have access to Schwab representatives and 236 branches nationwide.

With the company's multitude of trading vehicles -- from in person to telephone to online -- customers can reach Schwab 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, making trading easy and convenient.

Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. is one of the nation's largest financial services firms serving 4.2 million active investor accounts with $270 billion in client assets. Schwab is the leading provider of discount brokerage services and the pioneer of no-transaction fee mutual funds. -0-

Historical figures for Schwab's online business:

December 1995 336,600 accounts $23.3 billion in assets

June 1996 467,000 accounts $31.5 billion in assets

December 1996 617,000 accounts $41.7 billion in assets

January 1997 669,000 accounts $46.5 billion in assets

February 1997 712,000 accounts $50 billion in assets -0-

Note to Editors: The photo will be available at 9:30 am EST.

CONTACT: Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.

Tom Taggart, 415/627-8947