Charles Schwab hails online trading a success

Charles Schwab today claimed that $2bn (£1.2bn) worth of securities are bought and sold through its Web site every week.

The US retail broker said online transactions now account for over 50 per cent of its total trading volume. It has one point eight million active online accounts, mostly with US investors, holding a total of $128bn (£78bn).

The firm was one of the first brokers to go online, and has recently opened an office in London to serve its European customer base.

A spokesman for the London International Financial Futures Exchange, said there is no reason why Internet dealing will not take off in the UK the same way as it has in the US. However he warned that, "There needs to be much better security before cashflow transactions are made over the Net."

"What Charles Schwab does at the moment is not a lot more sophisticated that what can be done over the phone. It is executing retail transactions but not transferring cashflow. It is just a much more immediate service for the isolated investor," he added.

The results have enabled Charles Schwab to post profits of over $75m (£46m). Other retail brokers to go online include Barclays and E*Trade.