The move to New York reflects E-Trade's desire to be taken more seriously as a diversified financial services company. Besides its stock brokerage, E-Trade owns a growing online bank with $11.3 billion in customer deposits and has been trying to become a bigger player in the mortgage and mutual fund industries.

E-Trade has made its home in Silicon Valley since entrepreneur Bill Porter launched the company, originally called Trade Plus, in 1982. But most of E-Trade's top decision makers have been working on the East Coast since Christos Cotsakos, its leader during the company's dot-com heyday, stepped down as chief executive in January.