Ameritrade Buys NDB On-Line Discount Brokerage

by Carla Johnson, Investors Offshore.com

11 September 2001

The Ameritrade Holding Corporation has bought rival brokerage, the National Discount Brokers (NDB) online brokerage, an indirect subsidiary of Deutsche Bank AG for $154 million in stock.

Ameritrade, a leading US-based provider of tailor-made brokerage products and services, says it expects this latest acquisition will add 319,000 accounts to its current 1.5 million, $6.3 billion in clients' assets, $265 million in margin balances, and will result in an extra 9,000 trades per day which is an 8 per cent increase for Ameritrade.

Joe Moglia, chief executive officer of Ameritrade said: 'Last month, we announced the largest reorganization in our company's history. This acquisition reflects our company's aggressive focus on growth and profitability. By maximizing our operating leverage, we expect to increase our commission revenue, net interest revenue and operating margins, and move toward our goal of being a market leader in every client segment we serve. Our new clients will benefit from our segmentation strategy, which will provide greater choice and customized products and services.'

The NBD software is scheduled to be integrated with the Ameritrade web site over the next four months; until then clients will be able to access their accounts through the NDB site. For the past three years, NDB.com has been awarded Barron's highest overall rating of four stars as well as ranking top in the Trade Execution Process

Mayo Shattuck, CEO of Deutsche Bank's Private Client and Asset Management Division in the Americas explained: 'NDB.com's clients are winners in this transaction. They will benefit from the value, service and ease-of-use that we have always admired about Ameritrade. Deutsche Bank will continue to focus on our strategy to further build on the strong position of NDB Capital Markets Corp.'

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