Cuttone Appoints BofA Vet
August 25, 2008
New York-based institutional broker Cuttone & Co. has named Bret Goldin, previously head of sell-side sales and product in Banc of America Securities' electronic trading services group, as SVP and director of sales for prime brokerage services and electronic trading, a newly created position.
Cuttone has been building out its prime brokerage platform in recent years, said Keith Bliss, SVP and director of sales and marketing. During the last year, the firm has "seen a significant increase in demand for prime brokerage services as well as for advanced trading solutions offered by independent brokers," noted Bliss. According to Cuttone, the unit targets middle-market hedge funds with a full-service prime brokerage and securities lending platform, combining high-touch service with best-of-breed trade execution.
Added Bliss, "Now is the right time--based upon our own market intelligence and inquiries we've been getting from the marketplace--to hire a seasoned sales professional like Bret who has a very strong background in electronic trading as well as the prime brokerage world." Goldin, who has been in sales at Reuters and a trader at Herzog Heine & Geduld, which Merrill Lynch & Co. purchased in 2000, will oversee the strategic growth of Cuttone's e-trading solutions, including a low-latency direct-market access platform offering smart-order routing and algorithmic trading on all U.S. equities and listed options venues and 58 international equities markets.
"Bret's decision to join our team marks the second strategic hire of a senior executive in the past few months as Cuttone & Co. positions itself for significant operational and customer growth," said Bliss. In May, Cuttone appointed Richard Christ, previously head trader at hedge fund Loeb Partners Corp., as managing director responsible for the flow of trade information between the exchange floor, regional offices and upstairs trading desk.
Cuttone is also planning to open an expanded trading floor adjacent to its existing location at 111 Broadway. The bigger floor will allow the company to house an additional 30 to 36 trading professionals, Bliss said.
While electronic trading "certainly has its place," Bliss explained that "what we've discovered is that clients understand that is not the whole answer to their own workflow and processes. Our take is that our business is growing ... primarily because of the human-based element of our business." Clients, he said, want unconflicted expertise at the point of sale.
