The Toronto-Dominion Bank has confirmed it has entered into an arrangement to increase its direct ownership of TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. by 5%, the bank said Friday.

Under the terms of a TD Ameritrade stockholders agreement, the bank’s ownership of TD Ameritrade has been limited to 39.9%. This limit increased to 45% on Jan. 24.

“We continue to be rewarded for our investment in TD Ameritrade, as it delivers great performance despite the difficult market environment,” said Ed Clark, president and CEO, in a release.

“As we’ve said before, it’s been our intention for some time to take advantage of this opportunity to increase our ownership stake in this strong franchise. Now the largest retail broker in the U.S. as measured by trades per day, TD Ameritrade’s significant long-term potential is a key part of our U.S. growth strategy.”

On Sept. 14, 2006, TD entered into an arrangement that provided a financial hedge for the potential future purchase of 27 million shares of TD Ameritrade common stock. On Feb. 5, 2009, TD amended the hedging arrangement to provide for settlement in TD Ameritrade common shares, instead of cash settlement. TD says expects the 27 million shares to be delivered on the settlement date on or about March 2, 2009, at an approximate cost to TD of US$515 million, which was determined in accordance with the terms of the hedging arrangement.

Since the hedging arrangement was struck in 2006, it has been consolidated in TD Bank’s financial statements as part of its reported investment in TD Ameritrade, with the related income recognized, TD says. For this reason, the bank expects the replacement of the hedging arrangement with the approximate 5% increase in direct ownership to have no material impact on TD Bank’s earnings or capital levels.

IE