Schwab has raised its minimum level of assets under management for independent advisors in its client referral program to $500 million from $250 million. The news comes two months after the firm said it planned to hike the asset minimum for investor clients using the referral program to $2 million from $500,000 starting Jan. 1, 2026.
The move to raise RIAs’ required AUM was disclosed in a Schwab Advisor Network brochure and a recent regulatory filing.
“This new minimum for assets under management for participating firms went into effect earlier this year. It has no impact on firms currently in the program nor on the total number of firms in the program,” according to a spokesperson.
“The Schwab Advisor Network (SAN) has been running since 2002, and as we always have, we will continue to evolve and enhance the program to ensure it's positioned to meet the increasing wealth and advice needs of our clients,” the firm said in an email.
Around 140 firms were participating in the SAN referral program earlier this year, ThinkAdvisor reported in February, when Schwab raised fees 5% for participating advisors.
Before the 5% hike, these advisor fees were 25 basis points for the first $2 million in referred assets, 20 basis points on the next $3 million, 15 basis points on the next $5 million and 15 basis points on assets above $10 million.
(Advisors also must pay a one-time “program transfer fee” if referred assets are subsequently moved out of custody on Schwab’s platform.)
According to Schwab, independent firms in the Schwab Advisor Network represents less than 1% of the more than 16,000 advisors who custody their assets with Schwab. Assets custodied for advisors by Schwab Advisor Services totaled $5 trillion on Sept. 30, 2025.
Separately, Schwab Advisor Services announced Wednesday that company veteran Julian Lopez would lead its Enterprise Solutions group, which focuses on large RIAs and advisor teams, starting Jan. 1.
Credit: Diego Radzinschi/ALM
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