Tullett & Tokyo Liberty, is planning to add up to five equity derivatives brokers for its White Plains, N.Y., office, said Vincent McCrudden, co-manager of equity derivatives. He said the broker, which already acts as a conduit for interest-rate and credit derivatives trades, has branched out to the equity derivatives side as part of a broader push into the U.S. equity market. It began U.S. equity derivatives operations in listed and over-the-counter securities, at the end of last year and the hires are a result of growth.
McCrudden expects the broker to find favor among market makers because it does not take its own punts on the market. "We're not proprietary trading and our clients know that," he said. Another incentive for beginning a U.S. equity derivatives operation--the company already deals in European equities via a London office--is the spectacular growth of the credit derivatives market, he said, noting the firm plans to sell OTC equity puts to its credit derivatives market making clients, as a means of hedging default risk.
