If Rule Won’t Apply, Schwab Won’t Fight It

Charles Schwab Corp., the largest online brokerage, said it probably will drop opposition to a proposed requirement that day-trading firms screen clients to make sure they’re suited to the fast-paced trading style.

Schwab said it liked a change that the National Assn. of Securities Dealers board added to the proposal before approving it on July 29 and sending it to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The change appears to exempt online brokers from the requirement, said Schwab general counsel Hardy Callcott.

“I’d want to see a published text of it to make sure, but my understanding is that what they did to the proposed rule is going to address our concern,” Callcott said. “And my guess is that most of the large Internet brokers will also feel like this rule no longer applies to them.”