BrokerDealer BATS Seeks New Prez

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BrokerDealer.com blog post courtesy of extract from WSJ

BATS Global Markets Inc. the brokerdealer that operates the BATS electronic exchange platform, has begun searching for a new president just over a month after it forced William O’Brien out of the position, according to people familiar with the matter.

After Mr. O’Brien abruptly departed BATS in July, BATS Chief Executive Joe Ratterman assumed the title of president effective immediately, according to a statement at the time. Mr. Ratterman is based in Lenexa, Kan., while Mr. O’Brien worked out of the firm’s Jersey City, N.J., office.

Since then, the BATS board has decided to look for a new president. The position would likely be based in Jersey City and play a role in acting as a liaison with the company’s owners, many of which are large Wall Street firms based in New York City, and be a public face for the company.

It wasn’t previously known whether the company would seek to replace Mr. O’Brien or leave Mr. Ratterman as both chief executive and president. A spokesman for BATS declined to comment.

One reason for Mr. O’Brien’s departure was a decision by BATS to settle allegations that one of its units gave unfair advantages to high-speed traders, The Wall Street Journal reported last month. Mr. O’Brien declined to comment.

Banks dangle Carrot to Future Broker Dealers

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Brokerdealer.com blog post made possible through the courtesy of the NYTimes and William Alden and Sydney Ember  

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Working on Wall Street once conferred a certain prestige, a path to riches and an oh-so-important swagger. The big-name investment banks had top candidates lining up at their recruiting tables and thousands of applicants for the few coveted spots for future broker dealers.

But that image held by future broker dealers has been clouded in recent years by horror stories of weekends spent at the office, frequent all-nighters and seemingly unsympathetic bosses.

Wall Street now finds itself with the public relations challenge of having to woo and retain young talent. As part of the effort, many new hires found out this week that they could be paid roughly 20 percent more than their counterparts were offered last year.

The reason: The top banks, after decades of easily attracting the best and brightest from Ivy League campuses, are now worried about losing their favored status, especially as companies likeGoogle and Facebook can offer similarly high pay combined with luxurious benefits. A rash of cuts, regulatory issues and other problems after the 2008 financial crisis has not helped. Continue reading →

NYSE hits new year-to-date lows

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Brokerdealer.com blog post courtesy of ETF Daily News and David Fabian.

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David Fabian: Yesterday marked a year-to-date low in NYSE trading volume despite the S&P 500 Index hitting a new all-time intra-day high above 2,000. Despite the fact that many stocks are seeing fewer buyers and sellers, the markets are continuing to build on this 5-year bull market in earnest. Continue reading →

BrokerDealer WhistleBlowers Beware: Arbitration is a Double-Edged Sword

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BrokerDealer.com blog update re the Finra arbitration process is courtesy of extract from 31 Aug New York Times story by Gretchen Morgenson

nytimes logoFive years ago, Sean Martin, a registered representative at Deutsche Bank Securities in New York, saw something troubling on his trading desk.

A few of his colleagues, he said, were letting preferred hedge fund clients listen in on confidential market commentary by the firm’s analysts before their views were made public. He alerted his superiors and was almost immediately given a negative review, a first in more than 10 years at the firm, he said. His bosses also removed him from the group he’d been working with and cut his compensation.

Mr. Martin, who continues to work at Deutsche Bank, said he believed that he was being punished for reporting misconduct and took the one avenue of redress that was open to him. In August 2012, he brought an arbitration case against the firm, contending retaliation and asking to recover his lost earnings. As is typical in the financial industry, his employment contract required that any dispute between him and his employer go through private arbitration, not the courts. Mr. Martin’s matter is being heard by three arbitrators associated with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, a self-regulatory organization that operates the largest dispute resolution forum in the securities industry.

But Mr. Martin’s experience with arbitration, both he and his lawyer say, has raised questions of fairness in the process. The three-member panel hearing his case has barred him from testifying about certain crucial aspects of what he saw at Deutsche Bank and disallowed the introduction of documents that bolster his claims. This led his lawyer to conclude that the panel was not interested in specifics of the behavior at the heart of his accusations — and to ask a state court to step in.

“When I filed this arbitration, I expected that Finra would resolve the dispute between Deutsche Bank and me in a fair way,” Mr. Martin, 41, said in a statement provided by his lawyer. “I was surprised and disappointed when the arbitrators refused to listen to important parts of what I wanted to say and rejected or redacted my exhibits. I can’t see how a dispute can be fairly resolved if one party is not even allowed to tell their side.”

To continue reading the entirety of the NY Times article, click on this link