Since Charles Schwab's purchase of TD Ameritrade was completed in early October 2020, Schwab has begun to make changes at TD Ameritrade in an effort to cut costs. In a previous Financial Advisor Transitions post, we discussed management changes and job cuts that Schwab was making at TD Ameritrade.

Schwab has now announced that it will be closing 200 TD Ameritrade branches. The branch closures announced by Schwab will impact the vast majority of the 260 total TD Ameritrade branches currently operating. Schwab announced that the majority of staff at shuttered TD branches will relocate to nearby Schwab branches, which will then house both Schwab and TD employees.

According to an article in ThinkAdvisor, the branch closures are the next step in Schwab's effort to reduce expenses. Schwab senior executive vice president and COO Joe Martinetto said the firm has already taken steps to reduce expenses by $250 million to $350 million. Schwab has previously said that it is aiming to cut between $1.8 billion and $2 billion in expenses following the acquisition of TD. Some of these cost-cutting measures include eliminating the "significant amount of overlap across [Schwab's] footprints" as well as a reduction in anticipated marketing spending. Martinetto said that Schwab expects "to see additional reductions over the course of the next 36 months."

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