Monday, July 28, 2008

Schwab names Bettinger CEO

Charles Schwab Corp. has named Walter Bettinger II chief executiveeffective Oct. 1. He will replace Charles Schwab, who will remain chairmanof the San Francisco brokerage firm he founded. Bettinger, 47, has been serving as president and chief operating officerfor the past 17 months and was considered the heir apparent. His previousrole was running Schwab's retail brokerage business. He joined Schwab in 1995 when it bought the Hampton Company, a 401(k)service provider Bettinger founded at age 22.

This will be the second time Schwab, 70, has relinquished the chiefexecutive's job.

Investors in the Schwab YieldPlus fund have not fared as well. The mutualfund, sold as a higher yielding alternative to money market funds, washeavily invested in mortgage securities, some of which went bad. As lossesmounted, investors fled. The fund is down almost 30 percent year to date,and its assets, which once topped $13 billion, are less than $1 billion.

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