Schwab to Sell Seats on New York Stock Exchange SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Following The Charles Schwab Corporation's sale of its capital markets and trading business on October 31, 2004 and subsequent agreement to handle trade execution through a services agreement with UBS Securities LLC, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. today confirmed its plans for the sale of its memberships on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The brokerage expects to close on the sale of its three NYSE seats during the first quarter of 2005. Following the sale of those seats, Schwab will no longer maintain a membership on the exchange. Shares of the common stock of The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE/Nasdaq: SCH) will remain dually listed on the NYSE and NASDAQ stock markets. "The Company has had a long and productive partnership with the NYSE. However, with our exit from the capital markets arena, we have been reevaluating our memberships on a number of the exchanges," said Michael Alexander, Senior Vice President, Trading and Asset Services. "This change will have no impact on customer order handling; our clients will continue to receive the same superior trade execution they have come to expect from Schwab." Through its agreement with UBS, Schwab will maintain access to the NYSE, and Schwab customers continue to have the option to route their orders to the NYSE. The decision follows on the Company's previously announced cost-cutting effort to eliminate complexity and redundancy across the firm, and reinvest cost savings back into services for clients. The Federal Reserve Board remains the primary regulator of the Schwab holding company, The Charles Schwab Corporation. That status was initiated in 2000 under the Gramm Leach Bliley Act. The company expects the SEC will designate the National Association of Security Dealers (NASD) as Schwab's primary self regulatory organization for the brokerage business, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. About Charles Schwab The Charles Schwab Corporation, through its operating subsidiaries, provides securities brokerage and financial services to individual investors and the independent investment advisors who work with them. With over 7 million individual investor accounts and more than $1 trillion in client assets, The Charles Schwab Corporation is one of the nation's largest financial services firms. Schwab provides a complete range of services and products, including an extensive selection of mutual funds; financial planning and investment advice; retirement plans; banking products and services; and referrals to prescreened independent fee-based investment advisors. Schwab is also the leading provider of custodial, operational and trading support for independent fee-based investment advisors. The corporation's operating subsidiaries include: Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (member SIPC), U.S. Trust Corporation (member FDIC), CyberTrader(R), Inc. (member SIPC), and Charles Schwab Bank (member FDIC). These companies' Web sites can be reached at http://www.schwab.com/, http://www.ustrust.com/, http://www.cybertrader.com/, and http://www.schwabbank.com/, respectively. (0004-10174) DATASOURCE: Charles Schwab CONTACT: Greg Gable of Charles Schwab, +1-415-636-5847 Web site: http://www.schwab.com/

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