CEO Tim Hockey says Schwab's zero-commission play was 'painful,' but helped TD Ameritrade focus on RIA channel and made it easier to find his successor
The Omaha, Neb.-based broker moves to appease RIA high net worth clients and braces for an upsurge in breakaway brokers that could help its custody business
Brooke's Note: The unintentional consequences of zero commissions will play out for years. TD took a big hit and its CEO gamely admitted the damage, but then made a case for why ripping off the bandaid now makes sense -- even if it inflames his personal wounds as he plans to limp out the door in February.
Charles Schwab & Co.’s zero-cost trading devastated TD Ameritrade, but simplified its CEO search by putting higher quality candidates in the pool, said outgoing TD CEO Tim Hockey on an Oct. 21 fiscal year-end call.
Schwab's price cuts took effect on Oct. 7. E*Trade followed the same day; TD went live on Oct. 3.
"Yes, it was very painful and the revenue give-up wasn't helpful at all," Hockey told analysts.
But the timing was better -- or less bad--than imagined. Most of those TD losses come on the retail side that derives revenues from commissions. The RIA business has more resilient fee-based revenue.
What also got easier is making plans for RIAs now that rock bottom is established.
"It's actually a bit liberating in terms of really trying to understand where we can create value for clients and then potentially charge for it," he said.
Strategic center
That liberty includes removing any restraint for making RIA clients a central part of the larger strategy -- something Hockey did a 180-degree turn on after planning to do wealth management in branches, then stopping. See: TD Ameritrade's board suddenly pushes out Tim Hockey after his big misread of RIAs; Tom Bradley name-dropped as successor
"[RIA custody] always been a very strong growth business for us," Hockey said. "But as we, again segment out those customers and the RIAs we see that those high net worth customers are particularly valuable to us."
Wirehouse brokers are handcuffed with models that make zero commissions almost impossible to live with. The chances of attracting more RIAs also just improved, according to Steve Boyle, chief financial officer of TD Ameritrade.
"We think there'll be more breakaway brokers potentially here in this environment and more people rethinking things tends to get them to think about the independent model, and we think that that's very good for our institutional business."
It also gives Tom Nally, president of TD Ameritrade Institutional, the leverage he was seeking to better serve RIAs who serve ultra-high-net-worth clients.
Hockey invoked the success of his RIA business head and said TD will fulfill his wish list of RIA service improvements.
"Tom's business as we know has been growing at huge rates, but there were some offerings on the family office side that our clients with larger books are interested in having like donor-advised funds. This is something that we're working on and should have out relatively soon."
TD also expects to give a higher priority to other high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth goodies, like charitable giving, trust accounting and cash management capabilities.
"All of those things that are helpful to higher net worth clients and they've been asking for for a while and those are important, too."
Clean slate
Meanwhile, Hockey has been left to bear the brunt of earnings flak from zeroing out commissions.
A month ago, TD's shares hovered at $49. Now, they stand at about $38 -- a $5 billion, or 20%, haircut on its market capitalization. See: After Vanguard instigated commission war in June, Charles 'Chuck' Schwab steps up to challenge in brilliant counterstroke that paints bull's eye on custody rivals in zero-sum showdown
"Nobody wants it to happen on their watch; well, it did on my watch," Hockey said. "But I can tell you that's now gone away. So having a new CEO come in, I think just made it easier to attract them."
Hockey’s goose was cooked in July; he’s set to depart in February. Even he can see the silver lining in that—for the next CEO, who can start with a clean slate. See: Tim Hockey leaves baffled analysts (and everyone else) probing for answers to explain abrupt departure plan as TD Ameritrade CEO; It's about... nothing!
"There are candidates being considered. I can tell you that the move to zero has absolutely improved the opportunity to get a good quality CEO in here," he says.
Hockey acknowledged that "the world changed" in October, but told analysts he intended to stay in the job "swinging with every breath I have" until his last day.
Flat feet
He also acknowledged that TD was caught flat-footed when Schwab pulled the trigger on zero commissions and scrambled to re-prioritize its initiatives.
"When the announcement came out and we made the decision to go to zero, the first thing we did was we got the team together, the senior executives team and took a look at our strategy and then at our priorities for 2020 and started to re-prioritize those in light of the new environment," he explained.
"And so many of these initiatives were underway some of them were a little further out, simply because we thought they were not as important in the environment we used to be in."
Related Moves
TD Ameritrade's board suddenly pushes out Tim Hockey after his big misread of RIAs; Tom Bradley name-dropped as successor
The CEO broke the TD promise never to compete with RIAs, took it back and got sent packing
July 23, 2019 – 4:30 AM
Robinhood gets 'brilliant' upper manager -- and a spare CEO -- by nabbing TD Ameritrade's ex-thinkorswim top exec, hopefully to throw a lifesaver to Robinhood's sinking stock
The Menlo Park, Calif., firm nabbed Steve Quirk as first-ever chief brokerage officer to 'bridge the gap between academia and reality.'
January 6, 2022 – 10:33 PM
Oisín's snippets: Charles Schwab brand goes up on Omaha's TD Ameritrade stadium, home of college baseball world series • Interactive Brokers lands an RIA custody insider, Charlie Latimer, to climb the custodian ladder
The TDA brand lives on until the techies figure out how to make two systems into one, but change is in the air in Omaha, while Interactive Brokers gets a leg up in the custody business with a new hire.
December 27, 2021 – 9:58 PM
Goldman Sachs nabs TD Ameritrade's Darla Sipolt for RIA custody; Kate Healy, Jim Dario and Peter Dorsey are among 1,000 staffers cut by Schwab post TD merger
Included in the wholesale reduction of the Omaha, Neb.-based broker's redundant talent, about 40% of TD Ameritrade's marketing staff also got word today they have no future with their San Francisco-based owner
October 27, 2020 – 1:20 AM
See more related moves
TD Ameritrade
Asset Custodian
Top Executive: Tom Nally
