New Managed Account Solution From Schwab Institutional Gives Advisors Preferred Access to U.S. Trust-Managed Investment Strategies SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Schwab Institutional (http://www.schwabinstitutional.com/), a leading provider of custodial, operational and trading support for independent fee-based investment advisors, announced today a new bundled managed account offering that provides advisors with preferred access to U.S. Trust portfolio management. This latest offering, Managed Account Affiliates(TM), features account minimums as low as $100,000 for most equity management. Managed Accounts (also known as "separate accounts") are portfolios of individual securities that are professionally managed on a discretionary basis by institutional-caliber portfolio managers. According to Cerulli Associates, assets in separate account consulting programs topped $548 billion at the close of 3Q, 2004. This represents a 21% growth rate year over year, while Schwab's growth rate was nearly 40% for the same period. "We're pleased to offer advisors and their clients access to the best that Schwab Institutional and U.S. Trust have to offer," said John Morris, senior vice president at Schwab. "We plan to enhance the value of this new platform over time by adding fixed-income strategies and tax-managed solutions." Morris added that advisors had the opportunity to hear directly from two U.S. Trust portfolio managers in an educational webcast in December. Thomas Galvin, manager of Focused Large-Cap Growth, and David Williams, manager of Value Equity, shared their expert viewpoints on style investing. Due to advisors' enthusiastic responses to this event, Schwab Managed Account Services has developed a tentative schedule of live regional educational sessions that will allow advisors to hear from industry experts in person. More details will be available later this month. Schwab has a dominant position in the service agent marketplace -- 67.5% market share as of 2003 according to Cerulli Associates, June 2004. Approximately 900 of the advisors who custody assets with Schwab Institutional currently use managed accounts; assets in managed accounts now exceed $15 billion. Schwab Institutional's managed account services also include Managed Account Select(R), a complete bundled solution and Managed Account Marketplace(R), an open-architecture platform that provides access to one of the widest selection of money managers. Managed Account Marketplace is generally intended for advisors who are seeking simplified administration but want to perform their own due diligence and negotiate money managers' fees independently. About Schwab Institutional Schwab Institutional is a leading provider of custodial, operational and trading support for independent fee-based investment advisors. Client assets custodied with Schwab Institutional increased 22 percent to $316 billion between September 30, 2003 and September 30, 2004. These assets managed by the approximately 5,000 independent advisor firms Schwab Institutional serves represent approximately one-third of total customer assets custodied at Schwab as of September 30, 2004. About Charles Schwab The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE/Nasdaq: SCH), 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. Its subsidiary Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (member SIPC) provides a complete range of investment services and products, including an extensive selection of mutual funds; financial planning and investment advice; retirement plans; referrals to independent fee-based investment advisors; and custodial, operational and trading support for independent fee-based investment advisors. Its subsidiary Charles Schwab Bank (member FDIC) provides banking and mortgage services and products. The corporation's other operating subsidiaries include U.S. Trust Corporation (member FDIC) and CyberTrader(R), Inc. (member SIPC) .These companies' Web sites can be reached at http://www.schwab.com/ , http://www.schwabbank.com/ , http://www.ustrust.com/ , and http://www.cybertrader.com/ . About U.S. Trust Founded in 1853, U.S. Trust is a wealth management company that provides planning, investment management, fiduciary and private banking services. Headquartered in New York City, U.S. Trust has $104 billion in assets under management, as of Sept. 30, 2004, and serves affluent individuals, families and institutions nationwide through its offices in California, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and Washington. Schwab Institutional is a division of Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. ("Schwab") Member SIPC (0105-00033) DATASOURCE: Charles Schwab CONTACT: Alison Wertheim of Charles Schwab, +1-415-636-5812, or Web site: http://www.schwab.com/ Web site: http://www.schwabinstitutional.com/

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