Charles Schwab teams with CU business school on financial planner program

BOULDER — Charles Schwab & Co. Inc. has entered into a five-year commitment with the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado Boulder to develop and invest in a Certified Financial Planner program, aimed at readying undergraduate students for careers in financial planning and wealth management.

Schwab will provide a charitable investment to fund scholarships and create coursework and exam preparation required by students to launch a career providing financial planning and advice. The amount of the investment was not disclosed.

The certification enables career paths in budget and financial analysis, financial management, real estate broker, insurance sales and underwriting, and securities, commodities and financial services sales.

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“As a recognized provider of finance education for the state of Colorado, the Leeds School of Business must keep pace with the growing demand for CFPs, and we see this program as creating a competitive advantage for the school,” said Roberto Caccia, faculty director for the Burridge Center for Finance at the Leeds School, in a prepared statement.

Development of the program will begin this fall and is expected to attract more than 80 students.

“Our hope is that it will widen the pool of skilled job candidates who share our values in serving consumers,” said Mary Stork, senior vice president of portfolio consulting at Schwab and member of the Leeds School of Business Board of Alumni and Friends.

Last October, Schwab opened a campus in Lone Tree, which serves more than 2,000 employees, essentially creating a financial hub in south Denver. The Leeds School of Business at CU-Boulder enrolls close to 3,000 undergraduate students, with finance students representing the largest area of concentration within the school at nearly one-third of its undergraduates.