TD Waterhouse Plans a Seamless Transition for
51,000 New Australian Customer Accounts
SYDNEY, Australia, December 7 /PRNewswire/ -- TD Waterhouse Investor
Services Limited today announced it has signed an agreement to acquire the
Australian customer accounts of Charles Schwab Australia subject to regulatory
approval.
The acquisition includes approximately 51,000 customer accounts and will
be effective in mid-January. Financial details of the transaction have not
been disclosed.
TD Waterhouse Chief Executive Officer Steve McDonald said: "TD Waterhouse
remains committed to increasing its business in our key markets through a
combination of natural growth, acquisition and strategic joint ventures. This
deal substantially strengthens our Australian operations. We are excited
about extending our high level of customer service to these new customers."
Karen Buck, TD Waterhouse's Managing Director in Australia, said the
acquisition will boost customer accounts by 25 per cent to over 260,000.
"This acquisition will increase our volumes and allow us to achieve
greater business efficiencies which we anticipate passing on to customers in
the form of further product and services enhancements in the New Year," she
said.
As TD Waterhouse customers, Australian investors will benefit from a wider
product range, competitive rates, online U.S. trading, a larger dealing desk,
including a larger dedicated Options team, and a new technical platform with
straight through processing for online traders.
TD Waterhouse is planning a seamless transition for customers. Accounts
will be automatically transferred to TD Waterhouse at the close of business on
Friday, January 11, 2002 unless a customer elects otherwise. Customers will
be able to start investing with TD Waterhouse as soon as the market opens on
Monday, January 14, 2002. Customers will receive letters notifying them of
this transfer process from both Schwab and TD Waterhouse within the next week.
Karen Buck said the firm is pleased to be expanding its commitment to
Australian investors.
"Australia continues to represent strong growth potential for online
financial services providers. Australians are early adopters of new
technology and are increasingly keen to take control of their investments,"
added Buck.
About TD Waterhouse:
TD Waterhouse Investor Services Limited in Australia offers service by
telephone, over the Internet and through a retail branch network. It
currently rates among the leading discount brokers in Australia by number of
customers and volume of trades. It also was the first discount broker in
Australia to introduce voice recognition technology for stock quotes
(TalkBroker) and one of the first to provide the ability to trade U.S. stocks
online.
In both 2000 and 2001 TD Waterhouse was named Australia's "Best Online
Broker of the Year" by yourbroker.com.au. It can be found at
tdwaterhouse.com.au .
TD Waterhouse Group, Inc. (NYSE: TWE; TSE) provides investors and
financial advisors with a broad range of brokerage, mutual fund, banking and
other consumer financial products on an integrated basis. Worldwide, TD
Waterhouse currently services 3.3 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 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 is a wholly owned subsidiary of TD Bank (NYSE: TD; TSE) and part
of TD Bank Financial Group. 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.
SOURCE TD Waterhouse Group, Inc.
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Related links:
http://www.tdwaterhouse.com
CONTACT:
Melissa Gitter, First Vice President of TD
Waterhouse, +1-212-806-3522
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