[ by Howard Haykin ]

TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. shareholders  at its annual meeting ,approved compensation for top executives  and  the proposal, known as a say-on-pay vote.
 

Fred Tomczyk, who led TD Ameritrade for more than four years, was granted $6.5 million in compensation for fiscal 2012, a 9.1% increase over the previous year.  The increase was somewhat surprising given that In fiscal 2012, TD Ameritrade's net income fell by 8.2%, while its revenue declined by 4.4%.   The company, along with its peers, struggled with another year of declining trading activity among individual investors who moved to the sidelines amid the European sovereign debt crisis and a slow-moving economic recovery in the U.S.
 

At the meeting, Mr. Tomczyk told shareholders "in the [fiscal] first quarter and in January we are seeing improved retail [investor] sentiment," adding that "all the signs are there that the retail investor is coming back into the market, but not robustly."

For further details, go to:  [ Market Watch, 1/13/13 ].