Charles Schwab (SCHW) on Monday said it lost $41 billion in deposits in the first three months of 2023, offering investors the first detailed look at how a firm at the center of last month’s banking crisis navigated the tumult.
That drop was roughly in line with what analysts expected. The brokerage giant also said first-quarter profit of $1.6 billion and revenue of $5.1 billion were up from the first quarter of 2022 but down when compared to the fourth quarter.
Shares of the brokerage giant have lost nearly 40% so far this year, including a more than 30% drop in March–the worst month ever in the company’s five-decade-long history. Shares are up more than 2% in pre-market trading.
Investors punished Schwab following the March 10 failure of Silicon Valley Bank, looking for other institutions that could face an outflow of depositors or had sizable paper losses on their debt securities due to rising interest rates. Their concern was that Schwab’s bank clients might move their money from “sweep accounts” into higher-yielding alternatives, and that could force the company to sell some of its bonds at a loss.
It ended the first quarter with $325 billion in deposits. That was down 11% from the fourth quarter and 30% from the year-ago quarter.
During the peak of the turmoil in March, Schwab felt compelled to come out publicly and reassure investors its liquidity remained strong. Its CEO told The Wall Street Journal the brokerage could continue to operate even if it lost most of its deposits over the next year “without having to sell a single security.”
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Source: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/charles-schwab-lost-41-billion-in-deposits-meeting-expectations-122940821.html