The difficult global economic environment facing TD Ameritrade will continue for at least the next two years, company leadership said Tuesday at the firm's annual stockholder meeting in Omaha.
The U.S. housing market remains in a slump. European debt issues have caused economic uncertainty, leaving investors cautious and not logging in to make trades through the Omaha-based online brokerage. And the 2012 presidential election and the political back-and-forth will stir economic worries, said Joe Moglia, the company's board chairman and former chief executive officer.
"Our (U.S.) economy is strong. Our economy is getting better. We're going to be fine. We're going to be OK," Moglia said. "The issue is: We're not going to be out of the woods until the European crisis winds up getting solved and until the housing market in the United States starts to stabilize."
But TD Ameritrade brass insist the company is going to continue to focus on the things it can control, including acquiring and holding client assets and positioning itself for significant growth when interest rates inch-up from the current record low levels set by the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank. Last month, the Fed said that those rates won't see any movement until at least 2014.
Despite the challenges, TD Ameritrade has broken asset-gathering records for the last three years and the company's stock is outperforming industry competitors, CEO and President Fred Tomczyk said.
Also during the meeting, held at the Downtown Omaha Hilton Hotel, the company's stockholders, including Toronto-Dominion Banks, which owns 45 percent of the company, approved three measures, including an executive compensation plan that awarded Tomczyk about $6 million in compensation for fiscal 2011, about the same as his payout a year ago.
The meeting was the first since Joe Ricketts retired from the board of directors. He founded the company that eventually became TD Ameritrade after numerous acquisitions and growth. The company held a special ceremony for Ricketts, including the unveiling of a portrait that will hang in the company's new Old Mill headquarters that's currently under construction.
Tomczyk said that the Ricketts influence on TD Ameritrade is not receding. Joe Ricketts’ sons, Todd and Pete, are both on the company’s board of directors and Tomczyk said he talks occasionally with the man who founded the company.
“I still talk to Joe Ricketts, who is still a big shareholder, just like I talk to any shareholder.”
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