AI Will Help Wealth Managers, Not Hurt Them, Schwab CEO Says
Watch on YouTube ↗  |  February 11, 2026 at 15:57 UTC  |  9:20  |  Bloomberg Markets
Speakers
Rick Wurster — President and CEO, Charles Schwab
Jonathan Ferro — Anchor, Bloomberg
Lisa Abramowicz — Anchor, Bloomberg

Summary

  • Schwab stock recently dropped 7% on fears that AI agents will automate tax strategies and wealth management, leading to fee compression.
  • CEO Rick Wurster argues AI is a margin expander, not a disruptor; Schwab’s cost to serve an account has dropped 41% (inflation-adjusted) over 5 years due to technology investments.
  • The "Robo-Advisor" threat from 10 years ago is used as a case study: instead of destroying Schwab, Schwab absorbed the tech, became the largest Robo-Advisor ($100B assets), and grew the overall business.
  • Schwab projects earnings power of $5.70–$5.80 per share in their winter update scenario, driven by scale (46 million clients) and data advantages.
Trade Ideas
Ticker Direction Speaker Thesis Time
BAC
LONG Lisa Abramowicz
Anchor, Bloomberg Television and Radio 		Lisa Abramowicz: "It sounds a lot like what Brian Moynihan [Bank of America CEO] said. The size of the employees may not change but the ability to capture a larger share of the market does increase." This validates a sector-wide thesis for "Large Financials." Both Schwab and Bank of America are signaling that headcount will remain flat while revenue/assets scale up via AI. This creates a "Jaws" effect (revenue growing faster than expenses) for the largest players who can afford the AI infrastructure. LONG. Betting on large-cap financials utilizing AI for operating leverage. Regulatory caps on AI in financial advice or data privacy failures. —
AI SOFTWARE /EQUITIES
WATCH Rick Wurster
President & CEO, Charles Schwab 		"Using Wealth.com... they were able to create a two-page visual summary [of a 400-page trust]... AI tools like tax planning... is something that is going to make advisors more effective." Wurster confirms that Schwab is *buying/partnering* with AI solutions (specifically naming Wealth.com) rather than building everything from scratch. This suggests the "AI Winners" in Fintech may not be standalone disruptors, but B2B software providers selling into the massive distribution channels of legacy firms like Schwab. WATCH. Look for public B2B Fintech/AI software companies that serve enterprise wealth managers rather than direct-to-consumer robo-advisors. Incumbents may eventually build these tools in-house, squeezing vendors. 0:19
SCHW
LONG Rick Wurster
President & CEO, Charles Schwab 		"For us AI is a real accelerant... Our cost to serve an account has come down 21%. On an inflation-adjusted basis that is 41%." The market is currently pricing AI as a deflationary threat (fee compression/disruption) to wealth managers. However, the data shows AI is actually driving operating leverage (lower costs per account). If incumbents with massive distribution (46M clients) can integrate AI tools (like Wealth.com) to improve advisor efficiency rather than being replaced by them, the sell-off is a mispricing of margin expansion potential. LONG. The "AI threat" is actually an "efficiency unlock" for dominant incumbents. If AI agents successfully commoditize complex tax/estate planning faster than Schwab can integrate them, fee pressure will materialize. 0:01