Charles Schwab's 2025 letter from Rick Wurster

About this letter

Rick Wurster, president and chief executive of Charles Schwab, wrote this letter for the company's 2025 annual report. Titled 'Innovation in a New Era', it is written to stockholders and dated 25 February 2026, and it reviews a year in which clients lived through the sharpest market sell-off since the pandemic in April, followed by a quick recovery.

Wurster anchors the letter in the question at the heart of Schwab's Through Clients' Eyes strategy: is this good for investors? He reports growth across the business, including an agreement to acquire Forge Global Holdings to widen clients' access to alternative investments. He then sets out four forces he sees reshaping the industry: the bull market for convenience, the rise of digital assets, the power of artificial intelligence and the expectations of the next generation. He closes with four focus areas for 2026: growth, scale and efficiency, the brilliant basics, and people.

What to notice

1. 1

   Despite pressure to offer prediction markets, Wurster says the demand is not there today, as more than 90% of their volume is in sports gambling, which he calls in direct opposition to Schwab's mission.

“Over the long term, the gambler loses and their financial dreams evaporate.”