Charles Schwab and Piper Jaffray Expand Access to Munis

Charles Schwab, a brokerage and banking company based in San Francisco, announced Monday that it has joined with Piper Jaffray, an investment bank and asset management firm, to provide clients access to Piper Jaffray’s new issue municipal bonds through Schwab’s BondSource® platform.

The platform provides investors with access to new issue bonds and secondary offerings via trading platforms, bond underwriters and dealers, as well as Schwab’s own inventory.

“This agreement complements our existing new issue bond offering, helping give our clients the flexibility to add regional or local exposure to their bond portfolios,” said Peter Crawford, senior vice president for Charles Schwab.

In the year ending on Aug. 31, 2012, Schwab clients had access to over 930 new issue offerings, including access to nearly 600 new muni deals.

Under the agreement, Schwab clients will now be able to select a variety of Piper Jaffray’s new issue municipal bonds as well as secondary fixed income offerings.

“We are excited to join with Charles Schwab to expand our distribution reach, providing their clients with significant new issue municipal opportunities and a broad range of secondary fixed income offerings,” said Brad Winges, head of fixed income services at Piper Jaffray.

Piper Jaffray is a top-ranked municipal bond underwriter, working on 900 municipal bond transactions with an aggregate par value of $52 billion in 2011.

The Charles Schwab Corporation is a leading provider of financial services, with more than 300 offices and 8.7 million active brokerage accounts, 1.5 million corporate retirement plan participants, and $1.89 trillion in client assets.

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