This week, Schwab announced that it has completed Acquisition of TD Ameritrade
• Schwab announced its plan to acquired TD Ameritrade for $22 billion last November.
• Just prior to the announcement, Schwab cut trading commissions to zero on most trades.
• Schwab announced that clients of each firm will continue to access accounts as usual. They indicated operations merge would take between 18-36 months.

On November 25, 2019, Schwab announced that it would acquire TD Ameritrade in a $26 billion all-stock deal.  The deal received anti-trust approval from the Justice Department in June.  The combined entity has approximately $6 trillion in client assets and 28 million accounts.

In a press release this week found here, Schwab CEO Walt Bettinger said, ‘Looking forward, we intend to quickly and efficiently harness our complementary strengths in order to break down even more barriers for investors.’  It is expected that the integration could result in $2 billion per year in annual cost savings.  Schwab noted the merger of operations would take between 18 – 36 months.

In the meantime, the two brokerage firms will operate as independent companies.  Clients of each company will continue to access their existing services and accounts as normal.  For RIA clients (including clients of Brightwood Ventures, LLC), their relationship with their RIA continues as normal.  Schwab has set up a web page with status updates and Q&A found here.

In August, Schwab announced that they would keep certain TD Ameritrade technologies such as thinkorswim and iRebal.  I think this is an indication that the Schwab team is reviewing the capabilities of each firm and is willing to integrate the best of both services.  I will continue to provide updates to clients as additional information becomes available.  For now, no action is required by TD Ameritrade clients.  Please feel free to give me a call if you have any questions.