Citywire RIA reported that Charles Schwab will keep making adjustments to its referral program for independent advisors, according to Jon Beatty, who heads Schwab Advisor Services. The remarks were made in Boston, where Schwab is hosting its IMPACT 2026 conference. Citywire's report, as summarized in its published description, points to ongoing changes to the Schwab Advisor Network, or SAN, rather than a finished set of new terms. The specifics below come from earlier coverage and Schwab material cited in our research.
SAN is the Schwab program that sends referrals to participating independent registered investment advisers. According to InvestmentNews, the minimum investable-asset level for referrals rose from $500,000 to $2 million in January 2026, the first change to the threshold in more than two decades. A further rise to $5 million has since been set, as described below.
In August, RIABiz reported that referrals made on or after January 5, 2027 will need at least $5 million in investable assets to qualify. InvestmentNews reported that a Schwab spokesperson confirmed the change. Schwab told advisors in an August 18, 2026 memo that the change would not affect referrals made before the effective date, according to a TradeStation blog post that describes the memo.
The program is also getting more expensive for participating advisors. TradeStation and a Securities Law blog both reported a 5% increase in SAN fees at each asset tier, which they described as the program's first pricing change in about two decades. The sources differ on when the increase was announced and took effect, so this article does not give a date for it.
Schwab has defended the higher floor. According to InvestmentNews, Schwab argued that over half of SAN's net flows originate with clients holding $10 million or more in investable assets, and that the higher floor reflects where the program is growing fastest. Schwab also said it remains committed to independent advisors. Those figures describe client assets, not prices or revenue.
Critics have been vocal. Tim Welsh of Nexus Strategy said Schwab appears to be shrinking the program, according to a Yahoo Finance article. Separately, TradeStation described a full-page Wall Street Journal advertisement, signed by founder Charles Schwab, that announced plans to hire thousands more in-house financial consultants.
Schwab Advisor Services is a unit of The Charles Schwab Corporation, a public company listed on the NYSE under the ticker SCHW. The company was founded in 1971 in San Francisco and moved its headquarters to Westlake, Texas, effective January 1, 2021. Charles Schwab and Co. is a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of the corporation, according to a 2018 SEC filing that lists an outdated San Francisco headquarters. Participating advisors must custody client assets with Schwab, and Schwab said the average SAN advisor has about 12 years of experience.
Sources do not agree on how many firms participate in SAN. RIABiz described roughly 100 to 150 firms, while other coverage cited about 140 and about 150. Treat the count as unsettled until Schwab confirms a figure.
The wider custody business has been growing. InvestmentNews reported that Schwab's RIA custody unit raised $120.1 billion in net new assets during the third quarter of 2026, a 47% rise over the prior year. Schwab CEO Richard Wurster has said the firm serves more than 16,000 firms, according to RIABiz. The referral changes come as Schwab leans on its advisor business while it competes with Fidelity for smaller RIAs.
At the same conference, ThinkAdvisor reported that Beatty said the quickest-growing firms cultivate an atmosphere that supports testing new client groups or offerings. Schwab also released its 2026 Independent Advisor Outlook Study at IMPACT on October 29. That survey covered 1,235 independent advisors, who together manage $497 billion, according to the firm's release. That figure is the surveyed firms' assets, not Schwab's own.
What comes next is largely set by Schwab's timetable. The $5 million minimum takes effect for referrals made on or after January 5, 2027, and Beatty's comments indicate the program will keep changing beyond that. Advisors who rely on SAN referrals should check their current eligibility and fee terms against the August memo and any further notice from Schwab.