Schwab Cuts More TD Ameritrade Executives

News May 14, 2021 at 11:55 AM
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Charles Schwab has eliminated more jobs at TD Ameritrade, including at least three of its executives, as part of the ongoing integration of the two firms.

Among the jobs cut were Vanessa Oligino, managing director of RIA Practice Management at TD Ameritrade Institutional; Greg Menefee, director of institutional consulting and sales support and implementation; and Scott Leak, director of institutional sales, an industry source told ThinkAdvisor on Friday.

"Achieving our goals for the integration of TD Ameritrade requires difficult but necessary changes designed to create the strongest firm possible," according to Schwab spokeswoman Mayura Hooper.

"Today we took another step forward in that process by notifying a small number of our colleagues that their roles have been eliminated as part of integration-related reductions in duplicative roles or realignments of responsibilities across the two firms," she told ThinkAdvisor on Thursday.

She declined to elaborate on the specific positions cut, including how many jobs were eliminated.

However, a report Tuesday from WealthManagement, citing a source close to the company, said about 50 employees were laid off.

On Friday, Schwab said new and existing clients brought in $37.2 billion of core net new assets in April, up 143% from a year ago but down 41% from March. Total client assets were $7.34 trillion as of April 30, a 4% jump from March and a 94% year-over-year-increase (which includes assets from the TD Ameritrade deal).

Earlier Layoffs

Three months ago, Schwab disclosed that it slashed about 200 jobs as part of its ongoing integration with TD Ameritrade. These job cuts were in addition to the more than 1,000 jobs the company already said it was eliminating across the two firms following the finalization of the $22 billion deal in November.

Executives that TD Ameritrade lost before Schwab announced the finalization of its acquisition of its former rival on Oct. 6 included Skip Schweiss, the former managing director, Retirement Plan Solutions and Advisor Advocacy, and Dani Fava, head of innovation for its RIA unit, who joined Envestnet in a similar role. As of late March, the combined company had eliminated 1,200 jobs since the deal closed.

"We're committed to providing transition support to everyone who is impacted" by the job cuts, including "reemployment assistance and severance benefits," Hooper told ThinkAdvisor on Thursday.

"It is also important to recognize that these actions are occurring in the context of a rapid expansion of our workforce and record levels of hiring to support areas of growth in our combined company," she explained. "As in the past, employees whose roles are eliminated as part of the integration have early access through their 60-day notice period to all newly opened positions and are treated as internal candidates for those open positions."

Schwab is "approaching the integration of TD Ameritrade with great thoughtfulness and care, and we have made tremendous progress, including around managing expense synergies and achieving revenue synergies," Hooper explained. "As part of this effort, we expect to [continue] making periodic and targeted job eliminations as we move toward account conversion."

Schwab said in April it expects the integration of TD Ameritrade into its business to cost about $400 million to $600 million more than originally expected, at $2 billion to $2.2 billion. It now anticipates this cost will top its earlier estimate of $1.6 billion due to the planned "increase in scope," Joe Martinetto, Schwab senior executive vice president and chief operating officer, explained during a spring business update.

Schwab also now projects the completion of the integration will be at the "long end of our initial time frame and we now expect to complete conversion within 30 to 36 months" as a result of the increased scope of the project, Martinetto said.

– Janet Levaux contributed to this report.

(Photographer: Christopher Dilts/Bloomberg)

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