Charles Schwab Picks the Carcass of Thematic Retail Investment Company Motif
Posted on 05/11/2020
In April 2020, the struggling San Mateo-based Motif, a financial investment firm focused on investor themes, agreed to transfer its clients accounts to Folio Investing, a competitor of Charles Schwab & Co. Inc. The deal for the all-cash asset purchase is expected to close by May 20, 2020. Motif was founded by Hardeep Walia. Motif Investing, Inc. operates as an online broker.
On another note, Charles Schwab, through an asset purchase agreement and all-cash transaction, is buying the intellectual property and technology assets of Motif, not the client assets under management. This includes Motif’s algorithms, patents, and source code. Hardeep Walia and the majority of Motif’s development and investment staff, are joining Charles Schwab, according to the press release. Motif is shutting down May 20, 2020. Charles Schwab was not interested in Motif’s current clients as most of them were non-discretionary accounts
Charles Schwab is making a move into direct indexing and fractional shares. Fidelity Investments acquired New York-based Ethic, a direct indexing company.
