TD Bank 2001 Annual Report Download - page 14

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ABOUT TD BANK FINANCIAL GROUP
TD Waterhouse provides investors and financial
advisors with a broad range of brokerage, mutual fund,
banking and other consumer financial products on an
integrated basis.
See Segmented financial results page 23
Despite an extremely tough environment, this year we added
more than 535,000 new accounts – and we made a profit
on an operating cash basis. Seeing so many new customers
embrace online investing during a challenging year is highly
encouraging and reflects the continuing and long-term
shift toward individual stock ownership and self-directed
online investing.
Market declines, lower investor asset values, political
uncertainties and general economic conditions, however,
all contributed to significantly lower trading and margin
loan revenues.
During the year we moved aggressively to cut costs in
three ways – through attrition, restructuring and by
enhancing our technology to increase operating efficiencies.
Our vision for growth hasn’t changed – we’re already a
world leader in self-directed investing and we want to be the
global online financial services firm. This year we continued
with our four key growth strategies to help get us there:
•expanding core and new growth segments
•enhancing each customer relationship
•leveraging technology
•extending global reach.
Giving customers tools and support
Our customers tell us that good trading tools and support
when they want it are most important to them. That’s why
we let customers choose how they want to access our
services – visit our website, use our automated telephone
system, call one of our representatives or visit a branch.
Offering customers leading-edge technology and the ability to
consult with a knowledgeable investment specialist is critical
to our business.
We’re continuing to make improvements to enhance
the experience of our customers, increasing the speed and
ease of trade execution and offering integrated products
and services.
A key milestone this year was the acquisition of R.J.
Thompson Holdings, Inc., a direct access brokerage firm that
specializes in serving active investors. We will integrate key
elements of R.J. Thompson’s technology platform into our
existing offering to create a more robust customer experience
for active traders that will include direct access to market
centres and electronic communications networks (ECNs), as
well as automatic updates of account information.
We’re also excited about offering U.S. customers and our
network of independent financial advisors real-time access
to Goldman Sachs PrimeAccesssm Research, an integrated,
world-class research and commentary offering from The
Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.
Expanding around the world
We’re continuing to expand globally, mostly through key joint
ventures in foreign markets. This year we announced our
intent to form a joint venture with Singapore’s DBS Group
Holdings Ltd., the largest banking group in Southeast Asia, to
provide self-directed investors in that region with access to a
multi-channel, multi-market, multi-currency, multi-product
platform of global investment services.
We enhanced online delivery around the world, launching
Hong Kong’s first interactive TV trading service, introducing
the first wireless service in Australia to provide investors with
market information, and delivering wireless news and market
information in the U.S. and Japan.
In Canada we launched an online fixed income centre that
provides customers with access to more than 1,000 fixed
income and money market products – more than any other
Canadian self-directed broker provides.
Diversifying our revenue sources
We’re continuing to look for sources of revenue in addition
to the income we earn from our trading, margin lending and
fees for assets under management. Two key strategies are to
expand our registered investment advisor business and to
leverage our relationships within TD Bank Financial Group.
We’ve done considerable research on what our customers
need. This research has told us that while many of our
customers like to manage their investments themselves,
some prefer to work with an advisor. Our customers in the
U.S. can get the advice they need from online tools, branch
support or from independent financial advisors through our
AdvisorDirect program. This year we made 3,000 referrals to
AdvisorDirect. We provide extensive services and technology to
more than 2,600 independent fee-based financial advisors in
the U.S., and to over 25 brokerage firms and 160 investment
counselling firms in Canada.
TD Waterhouse