What's New: Digital Onboarding

Schwab Advisor Center® has digital tools and resources to help you onboard new relationships, support your clients, and scale your business. Below you can learn about the latest enhancements and resources, or explore recent updates by clicking on a topic.

Overview

Our digital onboarding capabilities on Schwab Advisor Center enable you to open, set up, and fund multiple accounts for a household in minutes—all with a single email from you to your client.  It's the fastest and most secure way to open accounts at Schwab for both new and existing clients. 

Using information from Schwab and third-party platforms, the completely digital workflow significantly reduces errors and delays by validating and securing the data and guiding you and your client through the account open process. With digital onboarding, you spend less time following up with clients while giving them a simpler, streamlined experience. 

Explore the following resources to learn more about digital onboarding and scroll down to learn about the latest enhancements to the workflow. 


Digital onboarding: See your clients' edits plus reduced ACH verification steps

We've continued to enhance our digital onboarding workflow with new features that make it easier to give your clients a great experience.

New notifications of your clients' edits
Now when a client makes changes to their personal information in a digital envelope during the approval process, you'll see clear notifications pointing out those changes as you review the envelope. And to make changes easier to identify, you'll also see a notification on the Manage Envelopes page next to any envelope in which a client has made a change.

Better verification experience for new ACH (Schwab MoneyLink®) transactions
We've enhanced our background security software, significantly reducing the number of accounts that require supplemental documentation when establishing a new ACH setup. In the small percentage of cases in which the system requires additional documents—an account statement or a check image—you can now provide those materials on the client's behalf so that they don't have to upload those additional documents when digitally approving. Please note: Uploading these documents is optional, and if you don't have them available, the system will prompt your client to provide them.

Reminder: Don't miss the chance to learn more about our digital onboarding workflow and other digital tools at the virtual SOLUTIONS event August 15-16.

Schwab registration >    TD Ameritrade registration >

August 2023 (0823-3897)


Open and fund a Schwab Personalized Indexing account in one streamlined digital workflow

Digital onboarding is now available to open and fund new Schwab Personalized Indexing accounts on the Schwab Managed Account Access® platform. This direct indexing solution from Schwab Asset Management offers greater control over investments with lower minimums than the industry standard.

When onboarding a new account in a Schwab Personalized Indexing managed account strategy, you'll enjoy:

  • Expanded exclusion capabilities managed through a digital maintenance workflow
  • Advisor and client dashboards that make it easy to review account and tax details

As always with digital onboarding, you'll experience reduced errors, as well as faster processing and funding within the workflow. Your clients can also quickly and securely approve the request on a desktop or mobile device, using the eAuthorization feature.

Learn more:

July 2023 (0723-30FF)

For institutional use only—not for further distribution. This material may not be forwarded or made available, in whole or in part, to any party who is not a financial professional.

Schwab Advisor Services™ serves independent investment advisors and includes the custody, trading, and support services of Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. ("Schwab").

Independent investment advisors are not owned by, affiliated with, or supervised by Schwab.

Schwab Personalized Indexing™ is available through Schwab's Managed Account Connection® program; please read Schwab's disclosure brochure for important information and disclosures relating to it and to Schwab Managed Account Services™.

Portfolio Management for Schwab Personalized Indexing is provided by Charles Schwab Investment Management, Inc., dba Schwab Asset Management, a registered investment adviser and an affiliate of Schwab. Both Schwab Asset Management and Schwab are separate entities and subsidiaries of The Charles Schwab Corporation. Please refer to the Charles Schwab Investment Management, Inc., disclosure brochure for additional information.

Strategies that use screening to exclude certain investments may not be able to take advantage of the same opportunities or market trends as strategies that do not use screens. There can be no assurance that strategies will achieve their desired outcomes. Each investing strategy brings with it its own set of unique risks and benefits.

Neither the tax-loss harvesting strategy, nor any discussion herein is intended as tax advice, and Charles Schwab Investment Management, Inc. does not represent that any particular tax consequences will be obtained. Tax-loss harvesting involves certain risks including unintended tax implications. Investors should consult with their tax advisors and refer to Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") website at www.irs.gov about the consequences of tax-loss harvesting.

Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., 211 Main Street, San Francisco, CA 94105

©2023 Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. All rights reserved. Member SIPC


Open and fund Select and Access managed accounts digitally—including Schwab Personalized Indexing

You can now use digital onboarding to open and fund new accounts on Schwab's Managed Account Select® ("Select") and Managed Account Access® ("Access") platforms. This is the same secure, efficient tool you rely on to open other account types.

When opening these accounts, you continue to enjoy the benefits of digital onboarding, including:

  • Reduced errors from a typical re-work rate of 33% for paper forms to less than 5% with the digital tool
  • Faster processing
  • Funding within the experience without ever leaving the workflow

In addition, you can choose Schwab Personalized Indexing from Schwab Asset Management when opening a new Access account. Schwab Personalized Indexing, a customizable direct indexing offer, is now a fully digital experience for eligible account types, with new and expanded digital exclusion capabilities, along with dashboards to view account and tax details.

As always, with digital onboarding your clients can securely approve the request on their desktop or mobile device using eAuthorization.

Click below to learn more:

May 2023 (0523-3ZRY)

For institutional use only—not for further distribution. This material may not be forwarded or made available, in whole or in part, to any party who is not a financial professional.

Schwab Advisor Services™ serves independent investment advisors and includes the custody, trading, and support services of Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. ("Schwab").

Independent investment advisors are not owned by, affiliated with, or supervised by Schwab.

Schwab Personalized Indexing™ is available through Schwab's Managed Account Connection® program ("Connection"). Please read Schwab's disclosure brochure for important information and disclosures relating to Connection and Schwab Managed Account Services.

Portfolio Management for Schwab Personalized Indexing is provided by Charles Schwab Investment Management, Inc., dba Schwab Asset Management, a registered investment adviser and an affiliate of Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. Both Schwab Asset Management and Schwab are separate entities and subsidiaries of The Charles Schwab Corporation.

Please refer to the Charles Schwab Investment Management, Inc. disclosure brochure for additional information.

Strategies that use screening to exclude certain investments may not be able to take advantage of the same opportunities or market trends as strategies that do not use screens. There can be no assurance that the strategies will achieve their desired outcomes. Each investing strategy brings with it its own set of unique risks and benefits.

Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., 211 Main Street, San Francisco, CA 94105
©2023 Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. All rights reserved. Member SIPC


The new Action menu on the Profiles page makes it easy to perform key tasks

Now you can use new functionality to easily navigate to important pages and create easy-to-remember nicknames for your master and sub-accounts.

When you select a master or sub-account on the Profiles page, you can now click Action on the right side of the screen to access a menu allowing you to trade, move money, manage the account, and do portfolio analysis—all without navigating through other pages of the site.

One of the links on the Action menu allows you to create custom nicknames for your master and sub-accounts, making them easier to remember and look up. Your firm's security administrator controls which users have access to add or modify a nickname for each account. 
 
We hope that these and future such quality-of-life improvements will make using Schwab Advisor Center to conduct business on behalf of your clients and firm even better.

November 2022 (1122-20T1)

Screenshot of modernized SAC

Digital onboarding: one email sent, multiple accounts opened in minutes

The digital client onboarding feature you asked for is here: open multiple accounts for a household with a single, secure digital envelope. We know that the onboarding process can be complex, but you can streamline it with this latest digital onboarding update. The workflow is the fastest, most secure method for opening accounts at Schwab, allowing you to open multiple accounts for your clients and send each signer one email to approve all accounts

You and your clients can navigate the account open process in minutes—all while the workflow validates your input data, significantly reducing errors and delays. With digital onboarding, you're giving your clients a simpler, more streamlined review and approval experience that gets the information right the first time. 

Here's what you can do with digital onboarding:

  • Open one or more accounts, tailor them to your client's needs, and easily fund them using options like Schwab MoneyLink or ACAT asset transfers—all in a single workflow—with one email from you to your client
  • Save time and reduce errors using a guided workflow that auto-fills and validates client information from Schwab and leading third-party platforms
  • Let clients add and edit their own information and documents that you don't have on hand, so you don't have to spend time chasing down details

Other features include: 

  • Support for the most common accounts (including Schwab One®, living trusts, inherited IRAs for individuals, and custodial accounts) and for 16 of the most common advisor documents 
  • Detailed status tracking and the ability to recall, edit, and resend envelopes
  • Integrated enrollment in Schwab's advisor client portal, Schwab Alliance, enabling your clients to digitally approve requests and paving a path to a paper-free future 

You can walk through your experience (and your clients') with this step-by-step guide. If you would like to see a live demo and ask questions, register for one of the weekly webcasts hosted by our experts. 

July 2022 (0722-2BEM)

Transcript Open new window

Digital onboarding: now save key firm documents to future digital envelopes automatically

A new enhancement is coming to the digital onboarding workflow that lets you upload and save your firm's frequently used documents (client welcome letter, advisory agreement, and the like) as defaults to be automatically applied to future digital envelopes.

From the Manage Schwab Envelopes link on the Forms and Applications page, click the new Saved Firm Documents link. Choose the master account, then upload the documents and save. Going forward those documents will be automatically added to all future digital client onboarding envelopes created for that master account. The documents can be edited within each individual envelope, if needed.

You can save up to 16 types of popular documents, including:

  • Advisory agreement
  • Form CRS
  • Consent to invest
  • Risk tolerance questionnaire

When you send a digital envelope to your clients, they may be asked to electronically sign or acknowledge receipt of certain documents such as regulatory disclosures. For others no signature or acknowledgment is required; your client can simply download, review, and keep the documents for their records.

This timesaving feature will be available to any firm that has access to the digital onboarding workflow and the required master account.

Look for further enhancements to the digital onboarding experience throughout the year, including the ability to easily view edits made by clients and to initiate the account open process for multiple accounts within a single digital envelope.

May 2022 (0522-2HNP)

Screenshot of saved document page

August 2023 (0823-3897)

For advisor use only. For general educational purposes.

Any investments reflected are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to be nor should they be construed as a recommendation to buy, sell, or continue to hold any investment. Screen shots are for illustrative purposes only, may be historical in nature, and should not be used as a basis for any investment decision.

Schwab Advisor Services includes the custody, trading, and support services of Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. ("Schwab"), a registered broker-dealer and member SIPC, and the technology products and services of Performance Technologies, Inc. ("PTI"). PTI and Schwab are separate companies affiliated as subsidiaries of The Charles Schwab Corporation, but their products and services are independent of each other. PTI's integration solutions integrate data about accounts custodied at Schwab.

API integration is available through Schwab OpenView Gateway®, which is provided by PTI. Single sign-on is provided by PTI. Daily data files and trading integration are available through Schwab. Schwab OpenView Gateway® and Schwab OpenView MarketSquare™ are services of PTI.

References to third parties (whether such parties are vendors participating in a service of PTI or independent advisors using a service of a participating vendor) are not an endorsement or recommendation of, or an opinion (favorable or unfavorable), or advice about, or a referral to any product or service of any third party. Advisors are solely responsible for evaluating, selecting, and purchasing products and services offered by third party vendors. Unless indicated otherwise, third parties are independent and not affiliated with PTI or its affiliates.

Schwab Performance Technologies® ("SPT") provides technology solutions to independent investment advisors, while Schwab provides them and their clients with custody, trading, and related support services. SPT and Schwab are separate companies affiliated as subsidiaries of The Charles Schwab Corporation, but their products and services are independent from each other.

Schwab Advisor Portfolio Connect is a product of SPT.

Institutional Intelligent Portfolios ("IIP") is a technology and service platform made available by SPT to independent advisors who maintain a business relationship with Schwab Advisor Services.

Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. and Charles Schwab Bank are separate but affiliated companies and subsidiaries of The Charles Schwab Corporation. Brokerage products, including the Schwab One® brokerage account, are offered by Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., Member SIPC. Deposit and lending products are offered by Charles Schwab Bank, Member FDIC and an Equal Housing Lender.

Schwab affiliates earn revenue from the underlying assets in Institutional Intelligent Portfolios® accounts. This revenue comes from managing Schwab ETFs or Schwab Funds® and providing services relating to certain third-party funds that can be selected for the portfolio, and from the cash feature on the accounts. Revenue may also be received from the market centers where ETF trade orders are routed for execution. Tax-loss harvesting is available for clients with invested assets of $50,000 or more in their Institutional Intelligent Portfolios account. Clients must be enrolled to receive this service. Cash balances held in the Sweep Program at Schwab Bank are eligible for FDIC insurance up to allowable limits per depositor, per account ownership category.