TD Wealth Management
Overall business strategy
The objective of TD Wealth Management is to provide superior service and results for all customers, either through discretionary managed products, advice-driven strategies or self-service. TD’s integrated wealth management business aims to provide value-added results from the most sophisticated wealth and estate planning strategies to the daily investing activities of our nearly five million investment accounts.
Challenges in 2002
Fiscal 2002 was a challenging year for both our businesses and our customers. Worldwide markets remained volatile throughout the year, with the &SP/TSX Composite Index and the &SP 500 Index declining 9% and 16% respectively. As a result, investor confidence was shaken and sales of mutual funds and discretionary managed products were hampered, as were trading volumes in the full-service and discount brokerage businesses. TD Waterhouse International suffered losses during the year due to a decline in trade volumes. The resulting loss of revenue could not be offset by cost reductions because at this stage in its development, the business lacks scale economies.
2002 Highlights
During the year, a number of significant accomplishments were achieved:
- Successful launch and integration of TD Waterhouse Canada, which includes Investment Advice and Financial Planning in addition to the Discount Brokerage business.
- TD Waterhouse (USA) ranked #1 for Do-It-Yourself Investors by SmartMoney magazine. TD Waterhouse (USA) has received this honour in four of the last six years.
- TD Asset Management was recognized as the largest manager of high net worth assets in Canada.
- Established a joint venture with The Royal Bank of Scotland to provide discount brokerage services to Royal Bank of Scotland and NatWest customers. In addition to building revenues, the joint venture will use the TD Waterhouse U.K. platform thereby also helping to build needed scale for costs purposes.
Business outlook and focus for 2003
In 2003, TD Wealth Management will continue to expand our network of financial planners, grow our Investment Advice channel and leverage the Bank’s strong retail relationships. Our domestic and international goals are:
- continued growth in our Financial Planning and Investment Advice sales force.
- leverage distribution channels within the Bank to assist in the growth of the advice business and overall profitability.
- continue to invest in systems and infrastructure to better position ourselves for future growth.
- simplify sales processes and product offerings and reduce overall costs.
- increase operating efficiencies in TD Waterhouse USA and TD Waterhouse International Discount Brokerage operations.
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