Brian Chappatta, Columnist

Charles Schwab Takes Charge in Brave New Zero-Fee World

Buying TD Ameritrade and creating a $5 trillion behemoth was its logical next step.

November 21, 2019 at 3:31 PM UTC

Brian Chappatta is managing editor of Bloomberg News' leveraged finance and distressed debt teams. He was previously managing editor and team leader of its wealth group. Before that he was a Bloomberg Opinion markets and finance columnist and a bonds reporter for Bloomberg News.

How’s this for an encore?
Photographers: Gabby Jones (TD); Christopher Dilts (Schwab)/Bloomberg

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You have to hand it to Charles Schwab Corp. As the market leader in the online brokerage industry, the company seems to have realized the inevitable endgame of zero fees and consolidation and decided that it really ought to get on with it.

Schwab, just seven weeks after rocking Wall Street by announcing plans to eliminate commissions for U.S. stocks, exchange-traded funds and options, is now set to buy rival TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. for $26 billion, according to reports Thursday. The combined company would have an impressive $5 trillion of assets and be better equipped to step forward into this new, no-fee world than competitors such as E*Trade Financial Corp. and Interactive Brokers Group Inc.