Raymond James & Associates, a St. Petersburg, Fla.-based brokerage house with USD1.7 trillion in revenues, is planning its first foray into equity derivatives. The firm has hired David Dami, head of the private client group in the equity derivatives marketing division at Commerzbank Securities in New York, as a managing partner to lead the effort. Dami said he plans to hire several professionals to form a high-net-worth and corporate marketing team over the next few months. He added that there are also plans to begin structuring equity derivatives products after the marketing team is established. Dami declined to detail the type of products the firm would be offering.
Raymond James has decided to enter the market now because it "is the last major brokerage firm on the Street," without a major equity derivatives operation, according to Dami. He added that with 5,000 brokers and 100 investment bankers, it has the resources needed and should be in the market.
Dami, who resigned from Commerzbank two weeks ago, reports to Scott Cook, senior managing director in charge of equity capital markets. While at Commerzbank, Dami reported to Joe Mahfouz, head of equity derivatives for the Americas. Mahfouz recently resigned from the firm (DW, 5/6).
