The company was founded as Ameritrade in 1971. In 2006, it acquired the United States operations of TD Waterhouse from Canadian holding company TD Bank Group and was renamed TD Ameritrade, with TD Bank Group holding a significant ownership stake in the combined company. In September 2017, the company acquired the main brokerage business of Scottrade, while the Scottrade Bank subsidiary along with associated checking and savings accounts were acquired by TD Bank Group's U.S. subsidiary TD Bank, N.A.. In 2020, TD Ameritrade was acquired by Charles Schwab Corporation and accounts were transitioned to Schwab by 2024.
In February 2001, the company acquired TradeCast, which had approximately 60 broker-dealer, hedge fund and money management customers, for $67.3 million.[8][9]
In July 2001, the company acquired National Discount Brokers for $154 million, adding $6.3 billion in client assets.[10][11]
In September 2002, the company acquired Datek.[12][13]
In June 2003, the company acquired MyDiscountBroker.com.[14]
In 2004, the company acquired Bidwell in January,[15] BrokerageAmerica in February,[16] and JB Oxford and Company in October.[17]
In February 2008, the company acquired accounts from Fiserv.[20]
In May 2008, CEO Joe Moglia announced he would be vacating the CEO position and would become Chairman. He was succeeded as CEO by COO Fredric Tomczyk, who was formerly Vice Chair of Corporate Operations at Toronto-Dominion Bank.[21][22]
In January 2009, the company acquired Thinkorswim, a producer of software for active traders, for $606 million in cash and stock.[23]
In 2013, the company opened a new $250 million headquarters in Omaha.[24]
In 2016, Tomczyk retired as CEO and was succeeded by Tim Hockey, who had previously headed the TD Canada Trust retail banking division of Toronto-Dominion Bank.[25]
In September 2017, the company acquired Scottrade, a company based in St Louis, Missouri, making St. Louis the second-largest hub for the company.[26][27] The transition of client accounts occurred in February 2018.[28][29]
In April 2018, TD Ameritrade and Havas placed the first advertisement inserted within the bitcoinblockchain.[30]
In July 2019, CEO Tim Hockey announced his departure from TD Ameritrade in early Q1 2020.[31][32]
In July 2020, Joe Moglia retired from his role as Chairman of the Board of TD Ameritrade.
The TD Ameritrade platform was shut down in 2024 by which time all accounts were transitioned to Schwab.[35]
Legal actions
Security breaches
In November 2007, the company reported that hackers gained access to most of its clients' names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, addresses, phone numbers, and trading activity.[36][37] In 2011, after being sued in a class action, the company settled by agreeing to compensate customers that were victim to identity theft between $50 and $2,500 each.[38] The settlement was criticized for netting the attorneys almost as much money as the victims.[39] In 2020, customer login information was being sold on the dark web.[40]
Auction rate securities scandal
In 2009, TD Ameritrade settled a lawsuit alleging it had marketed auction rate securities as short-term investments. The settlement included a $456 million payment and the buyback of the securities, compensating investors for losses.[41][42][43]
Customer losses in reserve money funds
The company recommended to its customers to invest cash holdings in a money market fund that was an affiliate of the Reserve Primary Fund and the fund gained approximately $1 billion in assets as a result of such marketing by the company. The company received commissions from the fund for steering customers. In September 2008, during the financial crisis of 2007–2008, as a result of its holdings in securities of Lehman Brothers, the fund was forced to break the buck and $1 billion in cash equivalents of TD Ameritrade clients were frozen. The company was accused of having a conflict of interest as a result of commissions that it received, for having poor marketing ethics, and for misrepresenting the safety of the investment. Fredric Tomczyk, President of the company, argued that the contract with the Reserve Fund was a standard contract and that "an investment firm has to make money in some way." The company was named in class action lawsuits by its customers and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission launched an investigation into its marketing practices. In 2008, the company agreed to reimburse its customers for up to a 3% loss in the Reserve Primary Fund, or up to $50 million. In 2011, the company settled the SEC case and agreed to pay 1.2¢ per share of the Reserve Yield Plus Fund that was held by its customers, or $10 million in total. The Reserve Yield Plus made its final distribution in 2016 and investors received 97 to 98 cents per share in addition to compensation from TD Ameritrade.[44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52]
India
In September 2022, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), India's central bank, released a list of 34 forex trading online platforms, in which TD Ameritrade was listed as an illegal platform in India.[53]
Sponsorships
The company owned the naming rights to the baseball field TD Ameritrade Park Omaha, for which it would pay an average of $1 million a year for a twenty-year contract period starting in 2011.[54] After the acquisition by Charles Schwab Corporation, they retained ownership of the naming rights; the baseball venue was subsequently renamed Charles Schwab Field Omaha.
Related Research Articles
The 2003 mutual fund scandal was the result of the discovery of illegal late trading and market timing practices on the part of certain hedge fund and mutual fund companies.
Toronto-Dominion Bank, doing business as TD Bank Group, is a Canadian multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. The bank was created on February 1, 1955, through the merger of the Bank of Toronto and The Dominion Bank, which were founded in 1855 and 1869, respectively. It is one of two Big Five banks of Canada founded in Toronto, the other being the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.
In financial services, a broker-dealer is a natural person, company or other organization that engages in the business of trading securities for its own account or on behalf of its customers. Broker-dealers are at the heart of the securities and derivatives trading process.
TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. is a Canadian financial services corporation headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Toronto-Dominion Bank. The company does business through several divisions, namely TD Direct Investing, TD Wealth Financial Planning, and TD Wealth Private Investment Advice. The TD Waterhouse brand was also formerly used for TD's American and British brokerages.
The Charles Schwab Corporation is an American multinational financial services company. It offers banking, commercial banking, investing and related services including consulting, and wealth management advisory services to both retail and institutional clients. It has over 380 branches, primarily in financial centers in the United States and the United Kingdom. It is on the list of largest banks in the United States by assets. As of December 31, 2023, it had $8.5 trillion in client assets, 34.8 million active brokerage accounts, 5.2 million corporate retirement plan participants, and 1.8 million banking accounts. It also offers a donor advised fund for clients seeking to donate securities. It was founded in San Francisco, California, and is headquartered in Westlake, Texas.
Charles Robert Schwab Sr. is an American investor and financial executive. He is the founder and chairman of the Charles Schwab Corporation. He pioneered discount sales of equity securities starting in 1975. His company became by far the largest discount securities dealer in the United States. He semi-retired from the company in 2008 when he stepped down as CEO, but he remains chairman and is the largest shareholder.
E-Trade Financial Corporation, a subsidiary of Morgan Stanley, offers an electronic trading platform to trade financial assets. The company receives revenue from interest income on margin balances, commissions for order execution, payment for order flow, and management services.
Thinkorswim is an electronic trading platform owned by Charles Schwab Corporation used to trade financial assets. It is geared for self-directed stock, options and futures traders.
Ameriprise Financial, Inc. is a diversified financial services company and bank holding company incorporated in Delaware and headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It provides financial planning products and services, including wealth management, asset management, insurance, annuities, and estate planning.
TD Cowen, is an American multinational investment bank and financial services division of TD Securities that operates through two business segments: a broker-dealer and an investment management division.
Scottrade was a stockbroker and electronic trading platform that operated via mobile, on the web, and at branches. In September 2017, the stock brokerage division of the company was acquired by TD Ameritrade and absorbed by that company; the banking division, Scottrade Bank, was acquired by Toronto-Dominion Bank and folded into TD Bank, N.A.
Joseph Hugh Moglia is an American businessman and former football coach. He was head football coach at Coastal Carolina University from 2012 to 2016 and again in 2018 after spending the 2017 season on medical leave. During his tenure, the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers transitioned from the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) to the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). In six seasons, Coastal Carolina compiled a record of 56–22.
IG Group Holdings plc, trading as IG Group, is a United Kingdom-based online trading provider, offering access to spread betting and CFD trading, which allow traders to bet on the direction of equities, bonds and currencies without owning the underlying assets.
Jeffrey A. Citron is chairman of the board and former CEO of Vonage, a VOIP phone company. He was previously affiliated with Datek Online, an online stock brokerage.
Rodger O. Riney is an American billionaire and the founder of Scottrade, a stockbrokerage that was acquired by TD Ameritrade in 2017.
Thomas Stuart Ricketts is the Chairman of the Chicago Cubs, and the Chairman, co-founder and former CEO of Incapital LLC, a firm that provides securities firms and individual investors more efficient access to corporate bonds. Together with his sister Laura and brothers Pete and Todd, the Ricketts siblings are the board of directors for the Cubs. He is the son of TD Ameritrade Holding Corporation founder J. Joseph Ricketts. Joe Ricketts has a net worth of US$2.3 billion as of 2018 according to Forbes.
Payment for order flow (PFOF) is the compensation that a stockbroker receives from a market maker in exchange for the broker routing its clients' trades to that market maker. It is a controversial practice that has been called a "kickback" by its critics. Policymakers supportive of PFOF and several people in finance who have a favorable view of the practice have defended it for helping develop new investment apps, low-cost trading, and more efficient execution.
Robinhood Markets, Inc., headquartered in Menlo Park, California, provides an electronic trading platform accessible via mobile app that facilitates commission-free trades of stocks, exchange-traded funds and cryptocurrency, as well as cryptocurrency wallets, credit cards and other banking services. The company's revenue comes primarily from payment for order flow, net interest income, and subscription fees. The company has 23.9 million funded customers, 13.7 million monthly active users, and $130 billion in assets under custody.
Securities market participants in the United States include corporations and governments issuing securities, persons and corporations buying and selling a security, the broker-dealers and exchanges which facilitate such trading, banks which safe keep assets, and regulators who monitor the markets' activities. Investors buy and sell through broker-dealers and have their assets retained by either their executing broker-dealer, a custodian bank or a prime broker. These transactions take place in the environment of equity and equity options exchanges, regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), or derivative exchanges, regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). For transactions involving stocks and bonds, transfer agents assure that the ownership in each transaction is properly assigned to and held on behalf of each investor.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
$4.358 billion (Q3 2020)
$1.3 trillion (2020) [1] 
