A top investor in Charles Schwab Corp. sold its entire $1.4 billion stake in the brokerage during last month’s US banking turmoil, according to Financial Times.
Rajiv Jain’s GQG Partners had been among Schwab’s top 15 shareholders with a stake of just under 1% as of Dec. 31. It was one of the only active managers with such a large position before exiting, the newspaper said.
“We didn’t see an existential risk but they were caught up in the sentiment around banks,” Mark Barker, head of international at the investment firm, told the FT. “With all the inflows to money-market funds Charles Schwab is losing deposits revenue,” he said.
Schwab — which runs brokerage, banking and asset-management businesses — is among financial firms being swept up in the worst US banking crisis since 2008. Unrealized losses on the Westlake, Texas-based firm’s balance sheet, loaded with long-dated bonds, ballooned to more than $29 billion last year. At the same time, higher interest rates are encouraging customers to move their cash out of certain accounts that underpin Schwab’s business and bolster its bottom line.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.