Schwab Warned Thousands at Risk of Margin Calls as Volatility Soared on Trade War

Charles Schwab Corp. telephoned thousands of its retail-investing customers who were close to margin calls last month as US President Donald Trump’s trade war sent stocks sinking, Chief Executive Officer Rick Wurster said.

It’s a “pre-margin-call call,” Wurster said Thursday at a Reuters event. Schwab reaches out to clients if they’re nearing a margin call — triggered when money is needed in a margin account to meet minimum capital requirements — because some clients opt to add funds rather than being automatically pulled out of a position, he said. “We absolutely have had to do a lot more of those.”