Charles Schwab CEO Walt Bettinger to retire at the end of 2024, to be replaced by Rick Wurster

Charles Schwab CEO Walt Bettinger is stepping down at the end of December after 16 years at the helm of the brokerage, the company announced Tuesday.

Bettinger will be replaced on January 1, 2025 by the president of Charles Schwab, Rick Wurster. Bettinger will remain co-chairman of Schwab’s board.

In a statement, Bettinger cited turning 65 next year as a reason to step down and praised Wurster’s choice.

“The Schwab board’s careful and disciplined approach to succession planning helps ease this transition. Rick Wurster and I have worked together daily for more than eight years. I have complete confidence in his leadership and am delighted that the Schwab Board of Directors has selected him as my successor,” the statement said.

In an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Wurster indicated there would be no immediate change in strategy with the CEO transfer.

“I don’t think there’s going to be a transition in that we’re going to continue what we’ve been doing, which is to deliver and delight our customers,” Wurster said.

Since Bettinger took over in 2008, the firm’s client assets have grown to $9.74 trillion from $1.14 trillion, and client brokerage accounts have grown to more than 43 million from less than 10 million . That increase is due in part to Schwab’s acquisition of TD Ameritrade, which closed in 2020.

Bettinger said on “Squawk Box” that the Ameritrade integration was completed earlier this year and was another reason he felt this was a good time to step down as CEO.

Schwab shares have risen about 150% during Bettinger’s tenure, which began amid the financial crisis, but has underperformed the broader market over the past two years.

“I often say that not many CEOs cut their company’s stock price in half in the first 90 days, but that’s about where we got into the financial crisis,” Bettinger said on “Squawk Box.”

Schwab shares were up less than 1 percent in premarket trading Tuesday.