Schwab's Client Assets Up 15.3% Y/Y in August 2025: What's Driving It?

For August 2025, Charles Schwab SCHW recorded an increase in client assets. Total client assets were $11.23 trillion, up 15.3% from August 2024 and 2.4% from July 2025. Client assets receiving ongoing advisory services totaled $5.66 trillion, up 14.8% year over year and 2.7% sequentially.

Core net new assets of $44.4 billion increased 35.4% from the prior-year level but declined 5.3% from July 2025.

Schwab continues to benefit from heightened market volatility. Its recent performance reflects strong asset gathering, sustained client engagement and equity market appreciation. Despite the company lowering fees on certain investing solution products, revenues from the same have been increasing, given the rise in average client assets. The brokerage firm reported year-over-year growth in trading revenues in the first half of 2025.
 
In the past five years (ended 2024), Schwab’s total client assets saw a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20.1%, with the uptrend continuing in the first six months of 2025. This was primarily driven by acquisitions completed during this period and market appreciation. Moreover, the company’s continued efforts to increase its client base in advisory solutions have been bearing fruit, with total managed investing solutions revenues witnessing a CAGR of 12.2% over the same time frame.
 
Schwab’s inorganic expansion efforts amid favorable market conditions will continue to drive client asset growth, which will aid the top line. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 revenues is pegged at $23.42 billion, which suggests a year-over-year rise of 19.4%.

Additional Data From Schwab’s August Activity

SCHW’s average interest-earning assets at the end of August were $417.2 billion, which declined marginally from August 2024 and July 2025 levels. Average margin balances were $90.4 billion, up 23.3% year over year and 5.7% sequentially. Average bank deposit account balances were $79.8 billion, down 3.7% from the prior-year level and 1.2% from the previous month.

Schwab opened 382,000 new brokerage accounts in August 2025, up 17.9% on a year-over-year basis and 1.3% sequentially.

SCHW’s active brokerage accounts totaled 37.8 million, up 5.4% year over year. The figure was also up marginally from July 2025 level. Client banking accounts totaled 2.1 million, up 10.2% from the August 2024 level and 1% sequentially. The number of workplace plan participant accounts was up 4.3% year over year and down marginally to 5.6 million on a sequential basis.

Schwab’s Competitive Landscape

SCHW’s close competitor, Robinhood Markets, Inc. HOOD, reported an increase in total platform assets in August 2025. Total platform assets were $304 billion, surging 112% year over year and fueled by steady net deposits and market appreciation.

This rising asset base directly supports Robinhood’s net interest income, securities lending and transaction-driven revenues, even amid volatile trading activity. In August, the notional value of equity rose 107% year over year, while option contracts advanced 33%.

The data reflect that Robinhood’s efforts to become a leader in the active trader market have started bearing fruit. It has been diversifying its offerings to capitalize on investor demands and expand into lucrative businesses.

Likewise, Interactive Brokers IBKR reported a year-over-year rise in client Daily Average Revenue Trades (DARTs) in August 2025. Total client DARTs were 3,488,000, reflecting a 29% increase from August 2024 but a marginal decline from July 2025. Total customer accounts rose 32% year over year in August 2025 and 2% sequentially to 4.05 million.

Along with heightened market volatility and increased client participation, factors that drove the rise in customer accounts include targeted product innovations, efficient onboarding, global expansion and increased visibility via Interactive Brokers’ strategic moves.

Interactive Brokers’ continued efforts to diversify its product suite and develop proprietary software to automate broker-dealer functions, along with the company’s solid DART numbers, have been aiding top-line growth.

SCHW’s Price Performance and Zacks Rank

Shares of Schwab have rallied 24.4% so far this year compared with the industry’s growth of 26.9%.

Currently, Schwab carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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