Charles Schwab Reports Record $190.4 Billion in Quarterly Core Net New Assets

Charles Schwab attracted a record $190.4 billion in core net new client assets during the third quarter of 2026, a 38% increase from a year earlier, as investors continued moving money into its brokerage and advisory businesses.

The asset gathering came alongside record quarterly net revenue of $7.17 billion and net income of $2.91 billion. Schwab also opened about 1.24 million brokerage accounts, extending a period of customer growth that has strengthened both its investing platform and the services built around it.

Schwab’s $190.4 billion figure measures core inflows, not every dollar entering the firm. Schwab reported $192.4 billion in total net new assets for the quarter, with the difference coming from a separate category of bank certificate-of-deposit flows.

The record reflects new client money, not just higher markets

Schwab defines core net new assets by removing unusual large inflows or outflows and activity tied to off-platform Schwab Bank retail certificates of deposit. Its third-quarter earnings release shows that $2.0 billion of those CD inflows lifted total net new assets above the core figure. That makes $190.4 billion the relevant number when comparing recurring client asset gathering.

A year earlier, core net new assets were $137.5 billion. The increase of $52.9 billion in this year’s third quarter produced the 38% growth Schwab highlighted. Management described the latest core inflows as a 5.8% annualized organic growth rate, a measure of how quickly the firm is attracting client assets rather than a return earned by those assets.

The company’s monthly figures show inflows throughout the quarter, with core net new assets of $58.1 billion in July, $64.8 billion in August and $67.5 billion in September. The relatively even distribution shows the record was not driven by one unusually large month. These figures also provide a clearer picture of customer flows than changes in the market value of assets already on the platform.

Total client assets stood at $13.33 trillion at September 30, up 15% from $11.59 trillion a year earlier. Compared with the end of June, client assets increased by $248.3 billion. Of that quarterly gain, $192.4 billion came from net new assets and $55.9 billion from net market gains, according to Schwab’s asset-growth reconciliation. Market performance still affects the size of the platform, but it did not account for most of this quarter’s increase.

Advisor and brokerage businesses both contribute to inflows

Schwab’s Advisor Services business accounted for $120.1 billion of total net new assets in the quarter, compared with $81.7 billion in the same period of 2025. Investor Services contributed $72.3 billion, up from $52.7 billion a year earlier. The Investor Services figure includes the $2.0 billion of off-platform bank CD inflows excluded from the firmwide core measure.

Advisor Services provides custody and related support to independent registered investment advisers, whose clients may hold assets at Schwab without managing their accounts through Schwab’s retail brokerage experience. At quarter-end, Advisor Services held about $5.85 trillion in client assets, while Investor Services held roughly $7.49 trillion.

Account openings point to growth beyond the dollar amounts. Schwab added 1.243 million new brokerage accounts, 9% more than the 1.143 million opened a year earlier. Active brokerage accounts reached 40.26 million, a 6% annual increase. The firm also reported 2.43 million banking accounts and 5.87 million workplace plan participant accounts.

Schwab described its combined client-account base as 48.6 million. That is an account measure, not a count of unique individual customers: a person may have relationships with more than one Schwab service. The separate active brokerage figure provides a more specific view of the scale of the investing operation.

Activity within existing relationships added another source of growth. Managed Investing Solutions net flows rose 22% from the prior-year quarter, while net flows into Schwab Wealth Advisory increased 55%, according to the company. Those figures describe growth rates for specific advice-oriented services, not additional amounts that should be added to the $190.4 billion firmwide core-inflow total.

Revenue gains extend beyond asset gathering

Quarterly net revenue climbed 17% to $7.171 billion from $6.135 billion a year earlier. Net interest revenue was the largest individual component at $3.476 billion, up 14%. Schwab reported a net interest margin of 3.04%, reflecting income earned on interest-bearing assets after funding costs under its reported calculation.

Asset management and administration fees rose 14% to $1.913 billion. Those fees cover a range of asset-based investing and advisory services and help explain why the number and type of customer relationships matter alongside net new money. Greater managed-asset balances can support fee income, although asset values and the mix of products customers choose also affect what the company earns.

Trading revenue increased 16% to $1.158 billion. Clients made an average of 10.7 million trades a day, 44% more than in the third quarter of 2025. The much slower growth in trading revenue is an important qualification to the activity figure: reported revenue per trade declined to $1.69 from $2.11, so higher volumes did not produce a matching increase in trading income.

Schwab earned $2.906 billion in GAAP net income, up 23% from $2.358 billion. GAAP diluted earnings per share grew 29% to $1.62 from $1.26, helped by a smaller weighted-average diluted share count as well as higher profits. The company reported 1.733 billion diluted shares on that average basis, versus 1.811 billion a year earlier.

On an adjusted basis, diluted earnings per share were $1.69, compared with $1.31 a year ago. The adjusted calculation excludes $151 million in pre-tax expenses, consisting of $141 million in amortization of acquired intangible assets and $10 million in acquisition and post-acquisition integration-related costs. These are company-defined non-GAAP adjustments, not a replacement for the reported GAAP result.

Expenses excluding interest rose 9% to $3.394 billion, below the 17% pace of revenue growth. That gap supported a GAAP pre-tax profit margin of 52.7%, compared with 49.2% a year earlier.

Cash and lending balances add context to the quarter

Client sweep cash balances ended September at $492.8 billion, an increase of $7.1 billion from the end of June. These balances encompass several types of client cash held through Schwab’s banking and brokerage operations, including amounts associated with certain long/short investment strategies. They should not be interpreted as money sitting uninvested in ordinary retail checking accounts alone.

Lending also expanded. Schwab reported $72.3 billion of bank loans at quarter-end, up 35% year over year, and $37.3 billion in Pledged Asset Line balances, up 59%. Pledged Asset Lines allow qualifying clients to borrow against eligible non-retirement investments. Growth in that business shows another way Schwab can earn revenue from established client relationships, although larger lending balances also make credit performance and funding conditions relevant to future results.

Margin loan balances reached $187.9 billion, 14% higher than at the end of the previous quarter. Schwab said $60.7 billion of that amount related to certain long/short strategies, a qualification that matters when comparing the figure with conventional margin borrowing by retail investors. The company also repurchased 4.7 million of its common shares for about $500 million during the quarter.

Schwab reported preliminary consolidated Tier 1 leverage of 8.9% and an adjusted Tier 1 leverage ratio of 7.0%, the latter a non-GAAP measure reflecting a specified treatment of accumulated other comprehensive income. Future monthly asset-flow, cash and lending disclosures will help separate continuing organic growth from changes in market prices, interest rates and clients’ choices about where to hold their money.