MutualFundWire.com: 9. Walt Bettinger

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Wednesday, November 25, 2009

9. Walt Bettinger

Walt Bettinger
President and CEO, Charles Schwab

Walt Bettinger belongs to the rare breed of financial services executives who have worked at only two firms -- and have occupied the top posts at both. Thirteen years after selling his Ohio-based 401(k) plan administration company to Charles Schwab Corp., Bettinger succeeded Chuck himself as CEO of the San Francisco-based online brokerage giant last fall.

Schwab's Mutual Fund Marketplace carries 14,500 funds. Mutual Fund OneSource, the no-load, no-transaction-fee mutual fund supermarket, offers access to more than 2,000 funds.

On the proprietary fund side, Schwab's investment management division made some big moves this year. In May, Schwab lowered the expense ratio on its stock index funds, simplified the share class structure across its equity and bond fund lineup, and cut the minimum investment to $100. And though it was late to the ETF party, Schwab's entrance earlier this month nonetheless created a splash, with the firm deciding to waive commissions on its proprietary ETFs. To illustrate how big a deal this was for Schwab, Bettinger took part in the November 2 New York press briefing via satellite.

A summa cum laude graduate of Ohio University, Bettinger founded Hampton in 1983 when he was 22 and sold it to Schwab in 1995. He led Schwab's retirement and corporate services business, then moved on to run the individual investor enterprise. In February 2007, he became president and chief operating officer and took on the CEO role in October 2008.

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