NEW YORK, July 30 /PRNewswire/ -- TD Waterhouse Group, Inc., the global
online financial services firm (NYSE: TWE; TSE), today announced a strategic
business restructuring to improve its ability to face challenges in the
industry's operating environment and better position the firm for long-term
growth.
The firm will decrease its workforce by 9%, or approximately
600 employees. The restructuring will result in annual pre-tax savings of more
than $40 million beginning in the fourth fiscal quarter, and a pre-tax charge
of approximately $35 million in the third fiscal quarter related to
separation, facilities and other costs. In North America, the restructuring
consists of closing a call center in Chicago and 17 U.S. branches, as well as
reducing certain other U.S. staff.
"In April we announced Project 200, a combination of cost-cutting and
revenue-raising initiatives, designed to boost pre-tax income by
$200 million," Steve McDonald, Chief Executive Officer, said. "While we have
made significant progress toward achieving the expense reductions outlined in
the plan, including reducing our workforce through attrition, investor
activity has continued to deteriorate. Project 200 alone will not be
sufficient for us to reach our ultimate goal of realigning our expenses and
revenues."
"The restructuring has been made possible by efficiencies that stem from
technology solutions. Our technology investments are allowing the firm to do
more with fewer resources than before. As a result, we are confident that TD
Waterhouse can continue offering customers the same high-quality service
they're accustomed to even if investor activity increases significantly from
today's levels. In sum, we expect this restructuring will both allow us to
compete more effectively going forward and enhance our financial performance."
TD Waterhouse Group, Inc., (NYSE: TWE; TSE), also known as "TD
Waterhouse," provides investors with a broad range of brokerage, mutual fund,
banking and other consumer financial products on an integrated basis.
Worldwide, TD Waterhouse currently services 3.1 million active customer
accounts in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Hong
Kong. The firm also has joint ventures in Japan, Luxembourg, Singapore and
India to serve investors in those countries. TD Waterhouse can be found on
the Internet at http://www.tdwaterhouse.com and on America Online at Keyword:
TD Waterhouse.
TD Waterhouse's majority owner is TD Bank (NYSE: TD; TSE), which holds
approximately 89% of the outstanding share capital of TD Waterhouse.
Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, with offices around the world, TD Bank
Financial Group offers a full range of financial products and services to
approximately 13 million customers worldwide.
This release contains projections and other forward-looking statements
regarding future events and our future financial performance. These
statements are based on management's current beliefs and expectations. These
beliefs and expectations are based on assumptions that are subject to risks
and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from
these statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this release
speak only as of the date hereof and we do not undertake any obligation to
provide updates on or corrections of such statements in the future as a result
of subsequent developments or otherwise. The risks and uncertainties that may
cause actual results to differ materially from these statements include, but
are not limited to, (i) changes in general economic conditions and prevailing
interest rates, (ii) market volatility or further sustained decreases in the
market prices of securities generally, (iii) significant increases or
decreases in trading activity by our customers, (iv) customer attrition, (v)
the development and acceptance of new products and services, (vi) system
delays and failures, (vii) increased competition, (viii) a slowdown in the
expected rate of employee attrition, (ix) the success of our expense
reduction initiatives in achieving their expected benefits, and (x) our
ability to estimate when our expense reduction initiatives will affect our
operating results. For a discussion of risks and uncertainties that may cause
actual results to differ from those reflected in such forward-looking
statements, please refer to our filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission, including the information included under the heading "Item 1.
Business-Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year
ended October 31, 2000.
SOURCE TD Waterhouse Group, Inc.
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Related links:
http://www.tdwaterhouse.com
CONTACT:
Media - Melissa Gitter, First Vice President,
Public Affairs, +1-212-806-3522; or Analyst - Kevin Sterns,
Executive Vice President & CFO, +1-212-908-7301, both of TD
Waterhouse Group, Inc.
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