Schwab to Sell Seats on New York Stock Exchange

Schwab to Sell Seats on New York Stock Exchange 


SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 23  /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Following The Charles Schwab
Corporation's sale of its capital markets and trading business on October 31,
2004 and subsequent agreement to handle trade execution through a services
agreement with UBS Securities LLC, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. today confirmed
its plans for the sale of its memberships on the New York Stock Exchange
(NYSE). The brokerage expects to close on the sale of its three NYSE seats
during the first quarter of 2005. Following the sale of those seats, Schwab
will no longer maintain a membership on the exchange. Shares of the common
stock of The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE/Nasdaq: SCH) will remain dually
listed on the NYSE and NASDAQ stock markets.

"The Company has had a long and productive partnership with the NYSE. However,
with our exit from the capital markets arena, we have been reevaluating our
memberships on a number of the exchanges," said Michael Alexander, Senior Vice
President, Trading and Asset Services. "This change will have no impact on
customer order handling; our clients will continue to receive the same superior
trade execution they have come to expect from Schwab."

Through its agreement with UBS, Schwab will maintain access to the NYSE, and
Schwab customers continue to have the option to route their orders to the NYSE.

The decision follows on the Company's previously announced cost-cutting effort
to eliminate complexity and redundancy across the firm, and reinvest cost
savings back into services for clients.

The Federal Reserve Board remains the primary regulator of the Schwab holding
company, The Charles Schwab Corporation. That status was initiated in 2000
under the Gramm Leach Bliley Act. The company expects the SEC will designate
the National Association of Security Dealers (NASD) as Schwab's primary self
regulatory organization for the brokerage business, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.

About Charles Schwab

The Charles Schwab Corporation, through its operating subsidiaries, provides
securities brokerage and financial services to individual investors and the
independent investment advisors who work with them. With over 7 million
individual investor accounts and more than $1 trillion in client assets, The
Charles Schwab Corporation is one of the nation's largest financial services
firms. Schwab provides a complete range of services and products, including an
extensive selection of mutual funds; financial planning and investment advice;
retirement plans; banking products and services; and referrals to prescreened
independent fee-based investment advisors. Schwab is also the leading provider
of custodial, operational and trading support for independent fee-based
investment advisors. The corporation's operating subsidiaries include: Charles
Schwab & Co., Inc. (member SIPC), U.S. Trust Corporation (member FDIC),
CyberTrader(R), Inc. (member SIPC), and Charles Schwab Bank (member FDIC).
These companies' Web sites can be reached at http://www.schwab.com/,
http://www.ustrust.com/, http://www.cybertrader.com/, and
http://www.schwabbank.com/, respectively. (0004-10174) 

DATASOURCE: Charles Schwab



CONTACT:  Greg Gable of Charles Schwab, [phone]



Web site:  http://www.schwab.com/ 

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