15. Commitments and Contingencies

Operating leases and other commitments: The Company has non-cancelable operating leases for office space and equipment. Future annual minimum rental commitments under these leases, net of contractual subleases, at December 31, 2011, are as follows:


	Operating
	Leases		Subleases		Net
2012	$	116	$	30	$	86
2013		96		26		70
2014		83		24		59
2015		72		24		48
2016		64		24		40
Thereafter		139		18		121

Total	$	570	$	146	$	424

Certain leases contain provisions for renewal options, purchase options, and rent escalations based on increases in certain costs incurred by the lessor. Rent expense was $187 million, $168 million, and $213 million in 2011, 2010, and 2009, respectively. Rent expense in 2009 included charges of $37 million relating to the Company’s cost reduction measures.

Purchase obligations: The Company has purchase obligations for services such as advertising and marketing, telecommunications, professional services, and hardware- and software-related agreements. At December 31, 2011, the Company has purchase obligations as follows:


2012	$	118
2013		48
2014		33
2015		27
2016		6
Thereafter		1

Total	$	233

Guarantees and indemnifications: In the normal course of business, the Company provides certain indemnifications (i.e., protection against damage or loss) to counterparties in connection with the disposition of certain of its assets. Such indemnifications are generally standard contractual terms with various expiration dates and typically relate to title to the assets transferred, ownership of intellectual property rights (e.g., patents), accuracy of financial statements, compliance with laws and regulations, failure to pay, satisfy or discharge any liability, or to defend claims, as well as errors, omissions, and misrepresentations. The maximum potential future liability under these indemnifications cannot be estimated. The Company has not recorded a liability for these indemnifications and believes that the occurrence of events that would trigger payments under these agreements is remote.

The Company has clients that sell (i.e., write) listed option contracts that are cleared by various clearing houses. The clearing houses establish margin requirements on these transactions. The Company partially satisfies the margin requirements by arranging unsecured standby LOCs, in favor of the clearing houses, which are issued by multiple banks. At December 31, 2011, the aggregate face amount of these LOCs totaled $350 million. In connection with its securities lending activities, Schwab is required to provide collateral to certain brokerage clients. Schwab satisfies the collateral requirements by arranging LOCs in favor of these brokerage clients, which are issued by multiple banks. At December 31, 2011, the aggregate face amount of these LOCs totaled $78 million. There were no funds drawn under any of these LOCs at December 31, 2011.

The Company also provides guarantees to securities clearing houses and exchanges under standard membership agreements, which require members to guarantee the performance of other members. Under the agreements, if another member becomes unable to satisfy its obligations to the clearing houses and exchanges, other members would be required to meet shortfalls. The Company’s liability under these arrangements is not quantifiable and may exceed the cash and securities it has posted as collateral. However, the potential requirement for the Company to make payments under these arrangements is remote. Accordingly, no liability has been recognized for these guarantees.

Legal contingencies: The Company is subject to claims and lawsuits in the ordinary course of business, including arbitrations, class actions and other litigation, some of which include claims for substantial or unspecified damages. The Company is also the subject of inquiries, investigations, and proceedings by regulatory and other governmental agencies. In addition, the Company is responding to certain litigation claims brought against former subsidiaries pursuant to indemnities it has provided to purchasers of those entities.

The Company believes it has strong defenses in all significant matters currently pending and is contesting liability and any damages claimed. Nevertheless, some of these matters may result in adverse judgments or awards, including penalties, injunctions or other relief, and the Company may also determine to settle a matter because of the uncertainty and risks of litigation. Described below are certain matters in which there is a reasonable possibility that a material loss could be incurred or where the matter may otherwise be of significant interest to stockholders. With respect to all other pending matters, based on current information and consultation with counsel, it does not appear that the outcome of any such matter could be material to the financial condition, operating results or cash flows of the Company. However, predicting the outcome of a litigation or regulatory matter is inherently difficult, requiring significant judgment and evaluation of various factors, including the procedural status of the matter and any recent developments; prior experience and the experience of others in similar cases; available defenses, including potential opportunities to dispose of a case on the merits or procedural grounds before trial (e.g., motions to dismiss or for summary judgment); the progress of fact discovery; the opinions of counsel and experts regarding potential damages; potential opportunities for settlement and the status of any settlement discussions; and potential insurance coverage and indemnification. Often, as in the case of the Auction Rate Securities Regulatory Inquiries and Total Bond Market Fund Litigation matters described below, it is not possible to reasonably estimate potential liability, if any, or a range of potential liability until the matter is closer to resolution, or pending the outcome of key motions or appeals. Numerous issues may have to be developed, such as discovery of important factual matters and determination of threshold legal issues, which may include novel or unsettled questions of law. Reserves are established or adjusted or further disclosure and estimates of potential loss are provided as the matter progresses and more information becomes available.

Auction Rate Securities Regulatory Inquiries: Schwab has been responding to industry wide inquiries from federal and state regulators regarding sales of auction rate securities to clients who were unable to sell their holdings when the normal auction process for those securities froze unexpectedly in February 2008. On August 17, 2009, a civil complaint was filed against Schwab in New York state court by the Attorney General of the State of New York (NYAG) alleging material misrepresentations and omissions by Schwab regarding the risks of auction rate securities, and seeking restitution, disgorgement, penalties and other relief, including repurchase of securities held in client accounts. As reflected in a statement issued August 17, 2009, Schwab has responded that the allegations are without merit, and has been contesting all charges. By order dated October 24, 2011, the court granted Schwab’s motion to dismiss the complaint. On November 30, 2011, the NYAG filed notice of its intention to appeal the ruling.

Total Bond Market Fund Litigation: On August 28, 2008, a class action lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on behalf of investors in the Schwab Total Bond Market Fund™ (Northstar lawsuit). The lawsuit, which alleges violations of state law and federal securities law in connection with the fund’s investment policy, names Schwab Investments (registrant and issuer of the fund’s shares) and CSIM as defendants. Allegations include that the fund improperly deviated from its stated investment objectives by investing in collateralized mortgage obligations (CMOs) and investing more than 25% of fund assets in CMOs and mortgage-backed securities without obtaining a shareholder vote. Plaintiffs seek unspecified compensatory and rescission damages, unspecified equitable and injunctive relief, and costs and attorneys’ fees. Plaintiffs’ federal securities law claim and certain of plaintiffs’ state law claims were dismissed in proceedings before the court and following a successful petition by defendants to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. On August 8, 2011, the court dismissed plaintiffs’ remaining claims with prejudice. Plaintiffs have appealed to the Ninth Circuit, where the case is currently pending.

A second class action lawsuit filed on September 3, 2010, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, which raised similar allegations on behalf of investors in the fund (Smit lawsuit), was dismissed with prejudice on April 19, 2011.

optionsXpress Merger Litigation: Between March 21, 2011 and April 6, 2011, ten purported class action lawsuits were filed by optionsXpress stockholders challenging the terms of the Company’s merger agreement to acquire optionsXpress. Named defendants included the Company, optionsXpress and members of its board of directors. Seven lawsuits were filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois and consolidated in a single amended complaint on May 9, 2011 (Consolidated Illinois Action); and three lawsuits were filed in the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware and consolidated in a single amended complaint on April 25, 2011 (Consolidated Delaware Action). On April 28, 2011, the Delaware court stayed the Consolidated Delaware Action in favor of the Consolidated Illinois Action.

On June 16, 2011, the Illinois court dismissed all claims against the Company with prejudice. On July 29, 2011, the parties entered into a settlement agreement under which the remaining defendants agreed to provide certain supplemental merger disclosures in exchange for full releases of all claims related to the merger, including all claims in the Consolidated Illinois Action and the Consolidated Delaware Action. Defendants also agreed not to oppose any fee application by plaintiffs’ counsel that did not exceed $650,000. The settlement received final approval from the Illinois court on December 7, 2011.

optionsXpress Regulatory Matters: The Company is in discussions with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Chicago Board Options Exchange and FINRA to resolve several optionsXpress regulatory matters which predate the Company’s acquisition of optionsXpress. optionsXpress entities and individual employees have received Wells notices concerning potential violations of SEC Regulation SHO (short sale delivery rules) in connection with certain customer trading activities, and potential violations of the broker-dealer registration requirements in connection with an unregistered optionsXpress entity. The Company has recorded a contingent liability associated with these matters, which was not material at December 31, 2011.

YieldPlus Fund Litigation: As disclosed previously, the Company recorded total charges in 2010 of $199 million, net of insurance proceeds of $39 million under applicable policies, for settlements to resolve consolidated class action litigation in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California relating to the Schwab YieldPlus Fund^®. On April 19, 2011, the court granted final approval of the settlement agreements and entered final judgment in the litigation.