American financial services company Charles Schwab Corp. will lay off up to 1,000 employees as part of its merger with competitor TD Ameritrade. The company said reducing its workforce had already started.
Charles Schwab closed its merger deal with TD Ameritrade earlier this month - effectively creating an online brokerage company with more than $6 trillion in client assets and 28 million brokerage accounts. The combined company is expected to operate as a single entity by the end of next year.
"We have begun notifying individuals that their roles have been eliminated and they will be leaving the firm. This will result in a reduction of approximately 1,000 positions or about 3% of the combined workforce of Charles Schwab and TD Ameritrade," Charles Schwab said.
The company said the job cuts were necessary as it would be removing redundant roles and overlapping offices as part of the merger. It added that it would be creating new roles and increasing manpower in some areas as it works to support its growing client base. The move is part of the company's efforts to streamline its structure and focus more on its more profitable business units.
Charles Schwab assured employees that all of those affected will have priority access to any new positions within the combined company. Affected employees will be treated as internal candidates for critical roles and will be given 60-day notices.
Apart from the 1,000 jobs that will be cut, Charles Schwab said it didn't expect any more layoffs throughout the rest of the year. The company didn't elaborate on what roles will be eliminated and what "critical" jobs will be created.
The financial services company initially entered into an agreement to acquire TD Ameritrade last year through a deal estimated to be worth more than $26 billion. As of 2019, the two companies had combined annual revenues of around $25 billion.
