MutualFundWire.com: IMPACT 2024 Is Schwab's Changing of the Guard

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Wednesday, November 20, 2024

IMPACT 2024 Is Schwab's Changing of the Guard

One of the biggest RIA channel conferences marks changing times at the industry's largest RIA custodian.

Jon Beatty welcomes advisors to IMPACT 2024

Yesterday, the Schwab Advisor Services team kicked off Schwab Impact 2024. A spokesperson for Schwab confirms that "nearly 5,000 individuals" are attending the three-day conference. Now in its 34th year, IMPACT is being held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, Schwab's former hometown.

Bettinger reflects at IMPACT, chatting with Suzanne Peterson

Impact 2024 comes in the middle of a changing of the guard at the very top of Schwab, and that change is on full display at the event. Yesterday afternoon, Schwab Advisor Services chief Jon Beatty welcomed attendees from the main stage, and then CRA partner Suzanne Peterson moderated a discussion with Charles Schwab CEO Walt Bettinger. This morning, Charles Schwab president Rick Wurster talked about how he is "invested in our future."

CEO-elect Rick Wurster takes the stage at IMPACT

This is the first IMPACT since 15-year advisor services chief Bernie Clark passed the reins to Beatty back in June. And it could be the last IMPACT where Bettinger speaks as CEO, after the revelation last month that Bettinger (a former retirement plan recordkeeping entrepreneur who has led the publicly traded brokerage as CEO for 16 years) will be succeeded by Wurster (a former portfolio manager and asset management leader) on January 1.

Leadership isn't the only thing changing at Schwab. TD Ameritrade, a rival discount brokerage and RIA custodian that Schwab bought in 2020, has basically disappeared into Schwab at this point. That integration is done.

The IMPACT exhibit hall has changed, too. Whereas fund firms on Schwab's OneSource platform previously dominated the exhibitors list at IMPACTs in years past, now the exhibitors are mostly fintechs. And the big sponsor at this year's IMPACT is T. Rowe Price, which for a longtime famously shied away from NTF platforms like OneSource (though the T. Rowe team has warmed up to NTF platforms since 2011).

IMPACT is still as big and well-run as ever. But, it's a very different IMPACT from pre-COVID ...

Beatty tells RIAs to own their tomorrow