TD Ameritrade's Retirement Plan Unit Being Merged Into Schwab's
Starting April 1, any new RIA retirement plan business will be directed to the Schwab Retirement Network for Advisors.
Charles Schwab is dropping the TD Ameritrade Retirement Plan business that serves RIAs and integrating it into the Schwab Retirement Network for Advisors. The development comes nearly six months after Schwab completed its $22 billion purchase of the former rival.
“As part of our ongoing TD Ameritrade integration, we are combining elements” of TDARP with SRNA “to provide an enhanced offering for advisors,” according to Schwab spokesman Mike Peterson.
“Advisors most often use these retirement plan solutions as an accommodation for their clients who are also small or medium-size business owners and who come to their advisor for help in offering a workplace plan,” he told ThinkAdvisor on Thursday.
“More product details will be introduced to advisors in the coming months,” Peterson said.
However, no additional TDARP retirement plans will be created after March 31. “Beginning April 1, any new opportunities will be directed to SRNA,” Peterson explained. “We intend to combine the existing TDARP business into the SRNA program in the future,” he added.
The Schwab spokesman did not specify when that will happen. However, Citywire, which was the first to report the news, said self-directed brokerage accounts on TDARP will start migrating to Schwab’s platform in about September 2022, according to a source briefed on the matter.
Schwab has notified some advisors about the change, according to the report, which notes that about 5% of TD Ameritrade’s RIA clients use TDARP and a comparable percentage of Schwab RIA clients use SRNA.
This is the latest change at TD Ameritrade since Schwab’s acquisition of the former rival was finalized Oct. 6.
Schwab said in November it planned to close almost 80% of TD Ameritrade’s network of about 260 branches that serve investors as part of planned expense reductions tied to the integration. Schwab also told advisors that, as part of the overall integration, Schwab Advisor Network and TD Ameritrade’s AdvisorDirect would be combined into a single referral network called Schwab Advisor Network.