Schwab smiles on merger of rivals

Charles “Chuck” Schwab again dismissed speculation that his company might acquire TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. or E*TRADE Financial Corp. by suggesting the two rivals might form a good union themselves, according to press reports. “That might be a nice combination,” said the founder, chief executive and chairman of The Charles Schwab Corp. of San Francisco last week in an interview with Bloomberg News. “That combination might be a healthy thing for the industry.” Schwab would happily acquire either company itself but “not at these prices,” he added, according to the reports. Besides, Schwab is growing to rapidly organically to risk such a distraction, he added. “To divert our attention to some sort of transactional thing is not where our management is or even our board is,” he said in the interview. TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. is in Omaha, Neb. and E*TRADE Financial Corp. is based in New York.