RIAs custodying with TD Ameritrade received some good news about that firm’s acquisition by Charles Schwab on Thursday morning.
According to Tom Nally, president of TD Ameritrade, most RIAs will not have to repaper their clients’ accounts after the transaction is finalized.
“When we first announced [the transaction], this was something of significant concern,” said Nally to an audience of advisors at TD Ameritrade’s 2020 National LINC conference in Orlando. “With more than 2 million client accounts at TD Ameritrade, this would be a significant burn to all of you. But the answer is no, for the vast majority of accounts you will not have to repaper.”
However, Nally said, there may be “some onsies or twosies where we may look to repaper for certain types of accounts,” while not clarifying which types of accounts may have to be repapered.
Nally noted that during his tenure with TD Ameritrade and its predecessors, he has witnessed eight different deals through the current acquisition, and had “never seen us actually having to repaper.”
Nally said that advisors can assist TD Ameritrade in creating a smooth transition for their clients by doing as much business as possible electronically to avoid stuffing mailboxes with paper.
“Get clients signed up for digital document delivery,” Nally said. “It will all be done through negative consent, so there should be no repapering.”