Charles Schwab Corp. SCHW CEO Walt Bettinger said the brokerage and financial services firm has enough resources to continue to operate even if it lost its deposits over the coming year, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday. Without having to sell a single security in its portfolio, “there would be a sufficient amount of liquidity right there to cover if 100% of our bank’s deposits ran off,” Bettinger said in the report. Schwab could borrow from the Federal Home Loan Bank, issue certificates of deposit, or collect interest paid on its bond portfolio, he said. The comments came as investors study reduced values of long-term holdings and other assets held by financial firms that may not be sufficient to cover a sharp drop in deposits. In the case of Charles Schwab, the bank is holding some bonds that are currently under water on paper. Seawolf Capital has disclosed it has a short position in Schwab. Seawolf Capital portfolio manager Porter Collins told the WSJ that Schwab has mismanaged its balance sheet. Schwab stock is down 1.7% in premarket trades and has lost nearly 37% of its value so far in 2023, compared to a rise of 2.8% by the S&P 500 SPX.
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