SCHW

The Merrill Lynch division of Bank of America is starting an online brokerage, and stocks in TDAmeritrade and Charles Schwab each fell when the news came out. The change will occur June 21, and the service will be called Merrill Edge.

As the personal savings rate in the US has grown to 4.4% and continues to rise, Charles Schwab, TD Ameritrade and ING Direct are trying to entice investors to save a portion of that growing asset base with them.

Providers of exchange-traded funds and notes had a strong 2009 and the new year is shaping up to bring more of the same. But what's good for ETF companies isn't necessarily good for investors.

Schwab (SCHW) has a squeaky clean image. Charles Schwab has run the firm he founded for decades, except for a brief period when the company was owned by another financial operation. But Schwab has always been the public face of his company, which has a current ad campaign called "Ask Chuck." This...