Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) CEO Walt Bettinger said Tuesday that his firm is still experiencing sizable inflows, contrary to fears that the banking crisis brought on by the Silicon Valley Bank collapse is spreading in the sector.
“What we’re seeing is asset inflows to the firm in significant numbers,” Bettinger told reporters Wednesday.
He said Schwab clients moved almost $42 billion in net new assets to the firm in February. Month to date, they’ve averaged about $2 billion a day, the CEO said.
Meanwhile, Bettinger revealed he bought 50,000 shares Tuesday morning for his personal account. “That much confidence I certainly have in this company,” he said. Those shares are worth nearly $3 million at Schwab’s open price Tuesday.
The Westlake, Texas-based financial company saw its stock fall nearly 12% on Monday, and it rebounded about 11% on Tuesday. Schwab took hits along with other financial firms with massive bond holdings.
The fear is that these firms, like Silicon Valley Bank, would need to sell their bond holdings early at large losses in order to cover deposit withdrawals. But Bettinger stressed his firm doesn’t buy long-duration assets and has a low loan-to-deposit ratio.
“Our bank is very conservatively managed. If you look into the holdings of the bank, we have about 10% of client deposits outstanding in loans,” Bettinger said.
SCHW shares began Wednesday down $1.88, or 3.3%, to $54.80.
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