Charles Schwab, a discount brokerage company, plans to launch a new service to allow customers to invest directly in foreign stock markets using local currencies.

Related services are already offered by other brokerages including E*Trade, Fidelity, TD Ameritrade and Zecco.

"The U.S. is becoming less important with the overall asset mix people are thinking about," says Schwab's Brian McDonald. Investors are "looking to grow global trading, and we want to make sure we're right there with them."

The new service is expected to come in the first quarter of the following year. Schwab plans to enable customers to buy and sell shares of companies that trade in 12 markets in eight local currencies.

The service will convert US dollars into the foreign currency and then execute the trade directly on the markets overseas.