SINGAPORE: Discount brokerage company Charles Schwab Corp said on Thursday (Sep 5) it will close its Singapore office by the end of this year, about two years after opening it in late 2017.

"Charles Schwab Singapore will cease to provide services and will close its office in Singapore. We will no longer open new accounts for prospective clients," it said in a statement on its website.



The Singapore office will no longer be licensed to hold accounts and all its client funds will either be transferred to a new broker-dealer or liquidated and returned to clients, a company spokeswoman said in an emailed statement.

Charles Schwab had opened its Singapore office in November 2017 to provide greater access to the US market to investors in Singapore and Asia.

The office was launched after integration and account migration from optionsXpress, a derivatives trading platform that Charles Schwab acquired in 2011.

The company will now be focusing on growing its business in Hong Kong, China, Latin America and Europe, including the UK, in addition to the US-based international service teams, the spokeswoman said.



Charles Schwab, which provides brokerage and financial advisory services, reported an 8 per cent year-on-year jump in second-quarter net income at US$937 million. As of July, it had total client assets of US$3.75 trillion.

The statements from the company on Thursday did not specify if the step will lead to job losses.