The head of the registered investment advisor business of San Francisco-based Charles Schwab, Charles Goldman, has left the company as it combines its RIA business with its corporate benefit plan sponsors and third-party retirement plan record-keeping businesses.

The newly combined institutional services division will be run by Jim McCool who had been running the corporate and retirement services unit at Schwab, but has not announced a day-to-day replacement for Mr Goldman in the RIA business.

Mr McCool, an executive vice president, joined the company in 1995 on the purchase of The Hampton Co, a provider of corporate retirement plan services.

Charles Schwab has $542.1 billion of RIA customer assets under custody from about 5,500 independent advisors, compared with $210.5 billion in client assets from about 1.3 million corporate retirement plan accounts.