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March 25, 2011 at 07:29 AM
Charles Schwab Corp. said Monday that it has agreed to acquire Chicago-based optionsXpress Holdings for Schwab stock valued at $1 billion.
In a statement about the deal, Schwab CEO Walt Bettinger characterized the acquisition as particularly benefiting Schwab’s “active investor clients” and other high-net-worth Schwab clients, noting that options investors at Schwab “tend to be among the larger, more active and longer-standing of our client relationships.”
With the acquisition, Schwab said it will offer a “best in class trading platform” for its retail clients.
In an interview Thursday, Bernie Clark, who heads Schwab’s RIA custody unit, Schwab Advisor Services (SAS), said that while the acquisition had not yet closed, when it does it will benefit its affiliated advisors as well as Schwab’s retail clients. Schwab said in its Monday announcement that the closing is expected to take place by the third quarter of 2011.
“We’re not going to talk in detail,” Clark (left) said, referring to the fact that the deal hasn’t closed yet, but suggested that advisors “look at what optionsXpress does, look at their expertise” in equity options trading and research, and education. “It will all be available” to advisors, Clark said, and anticipated that “eventually we’ll have integration.”
