Charles Schwab and TD Ameritrade are actively and aggressively hiring service staff in their advisor custody units to help keep up with a surge in demand, according to company executives.
Responding to questions from reporters in a conference call Tuesday, Tom Bradley, a Schwab vice president, emphasized that “there have been zero layoffs on the service side” of the advisor custody business and that a hiring surge had helped Schwab Advisor Services “dramatically improve the wait times” that some clients had complained about, according to ThinkAdvisor.
In addition, Bradley said that any service or systems issues that RIAs experienced were not related to the merger integration. Both companies are still operating as separate broker-dealers and don’t expect to integrate until 18 to 36 months after the merger’s close, Barron’s reported.
Schwab’s closed its $22 billion acquisition of TD Ameritrade in October despite one dissenting vote at the Federal Reserve, RIABiz reported.
Bradley also noted that it appears at present that the merger will not require new signatures on documents as clients are moved to Schwab from TD Ameritrade. “For the most part, it looks like we’re in the no-repapering zone, which advisors are quite pleased with,” according to ThinkAdvisor.
