Schwab Unveils New Bond Trading Fee Structure (SCHW, MER, AMTD)

Online brokerage giant, Charles Schwab Corp. (NASDAQ:SCHW) has unveiled some new pricing plans for its bond trading to entice more online brokerage account defections away from competitors.  It has unveiled new $1.00 per $1,000 face value.  The company has a $10.00 minimum commission/fee on this, and a maximum of $250.00.  If your browser or mobile device does not support graphical images, you can link the new pricing here.  If the comparison prices from other online brokerages are accurate, this looks like a significant discount to other online brokerage firms (see below):

This is on the same day that Citigroup issued a research report saying that Schwab was poised to overtake Merrill Lynch (NYSE:MER) as the largest brokerage firm in assets within 3-years.  The research report noted that Schwab has been growing assets at a faster rate than others, plus Merrill Lynch has seen some losses in its totall assets under management.

Jon C. Ogg
July 16, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at [email protected]; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.