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Scott Jagow: Online brokerages Ameritrade and E*Trade are talking about a merger. Well, at least behind closed doors they are, and according to the Wall Street Journal. Ashley Milne-Tyte looks at what a deal might mean.

Ashley Milne-Tyte: E*Trade and TD Ameritrade have talked about getting together at various times over the last few years, but the union has never worked out.

The two companies lag behind larger online brokers like Charles Schwab and Merrill Lynch when it comes to the number of customer accounts.

Adam Honore of the Aite Group says a merger of these two could be good for customers across the board.

Adam Honore: When you’re talking about service models being key to the current investor lifestyle, creating somebody else in the space that knows how to operate in a cost effective manner to compete with the other large full-service firms brings their prices down.

Two hedge funds that own large chunks of Ameritrade want to see the firm more competitive too. They’ve been publicly pressing for the talks with E*Trade.

In New York, I’m Ashley Milne-Tyte for Marketplace.