TD Ameritrade and TD bank nearing $4 billion deal to buy Scottrade - source

By Sangameswaran S

(Reuters) - TD Ameritrade Holding Corp (AMTD.O) and Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO) are nearing buying Scottrade Financial Services [SCTRD.UL] in a $4 billion (3 billion pounds) deal, a source familiar with the matter said.

TD Ameritrade, the biggest discount brokerage by trade executions, would acquire Scottrade's brokerage operations, and Toronto-Dominion would buy Scottrade's banking operations, the source said.

The deal could be announced as soon as pre-market hours on Monday, the source added.

TD Ameritrade, Toronto-Dominion Bank and Scottrade declined to comment.

In September, Bloomberg reported that Scottrade Financial was exploring a potential sale.

Scottrade has about 3,700 employees in about 500 branches across the United States.

In March, credit rating agency Fitch said Scottrade was trying to move away from focusing on transactional trading revenues and evolve toward more fee-based investment management revenue.

Fee-based accounts yield more reliable income than commission-based trading accounts that rise and fall with clients' interest in the markets.

Wealth managers in the United States are cutting fees, relying more on technology to give advice and reducing the minimum amounts clients can hold in their brokerage accounts, all in preparation for a new rule governing how they advise retirement savers.

(Reporting by Sangameswaran S in Bengaluru; Editing by Sandra Maler)