Schwab’s 2nd-Quarter Profit Rises 19%

Discount brokerage Charles Schwab Corp. reported a 19% rise in second-quarter net income on record revenue, boosted by a doubling of its electronic brokerage business. Schwab said its online customer base reached 1.8 million as of June 30, marking growing use of the Internet and computers by individual investors. Online accounts made up 52% of Schwab’s total trading volume in the quarter, compared with 36% during the same period a year ago. The growth in online trading helped push earnings for the quarter up 19.2% to $76.3 million, or 28 cents per diluted share, compared with $64 million, or 23 cents, during the same period last year. That matched the consensus analyst forecast. Revenue rose 20% to a record $638 million. Schwab’s shares closed up $1.69 at $36.81 on the New York Stock Exchange.