TD Ameritrade weighs Asia expansion

New York

TD AMERITRADE Holding Corp may expand into Asia if its surplus cash grows as much as it expects after US interest rates start to rise, the head of the discount brokerage firm said on Thursday.

The "next big thing" TD Ameritrade could invest in is "geographic extension", chief executive officer Fred Tomczyk told investors at a conference sponsored by Bank of America Merrill Lynch. "It is not an unnatural move for us to try to do it in another part of the world, particularly in Asia," he said, but cautioned that it would take five years or so before an overseas business contributes notably to the bottom line. He did not specify when a decision might be made on overseas expansion but said TD Ameritrade's management and board are now discussing scenarios for use of excess cash.