Charles Schwab & Co., the biggest discount brokerage by assets, was fined $1 million by the New York Stock Exchange for failing to protect clients from investment advisers who stole their money. The theft took place because of Schwab\'s inadequate monitoring, the exchange said Tuesday in a statement. The advisers, who were working under contract with Schwab, began acting in 1998 and continued as late as the first quarter of 2003, the NYSE said. Schwab failed to inform clients that advisers transferred money from their accounts at Schwab to other people, and it failed to match clients\' signatures with those on forged checks, the exchange said. Schwab may have been \'\'squeezed\'\' by its business model, which relies on lower trading fees and less oversight than full- service brokerages, said Henning, now a professor at Wayne State University in Detroit. Schwab discovered at least two advisers misusing funds in 2001 and reported it to the SEC and the FBI, spokeswoman Alison Wertheim said.