TradeStation Group Inc. (TRAD) said it will add
securities-lending services in the first quarter as the online
brokerage tries to improve business by widening its range of
offerings.
It will be started up and led by Robert Sackett, who is leaving
his post as a managing director at Citigroup Inc.'s (C) global
markets division. He has more than 15 years of securities lending
experience at Citi and its predecessors.
Chief Executive Salomon Sredni called securities lending "a
critical component of our plan to build a first-class prime
brokerage offering to small and mid-sized hedge funds and other
buy-side traders who can no longer receive important prime
brokerage services directly from the large firms."
Online brokerages have seen volume and transaction fees weaken
recently amid a decline in stock market activity, coming off of
boosted year earlier levels as the market recovered from the
financial crisis. TradeStation has said it expects to see results
improve over the next few years as more traders seek services
outside of traditional big Wall Street firms.
Shares of TradeStation closed at $6.50 on Monday and were
inactive premarket. The stock has fallen 18% so far this year.
-By Nathan Becker, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2855;
nathan.becker@dowjones.com