Albert Fried
Gerard Losurdo and Anthony Katsingris
01 March 2011
The appointment of Gerard Losurdo to head the securities lending team at Albert Fried has sent a message that the broker is serious about the market. SLT speaks to Losurdo and the broker’s COO Anthony Katsingris about their plans and ambitions
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The appointment of Gerard Losurdo to head the securities lending team at Albert Fried has sent a message that the broker is serious about the market. SLT speaks to Losurdo and the broker’s COO Anthony Katsingris about their plans and ambitions
SLT: Firstly, can you tell us a little about Albert Fried?
Katsingris: The broker dealer was established in 1919 by Albert Fried Sr and was taken over in 1955 by Albert Fried Jr, who still heads up the firm. Until the 1990s, it was a New York Stock Exchange specialist firm, but then it started to cater to institutional clients. We have concentrated on staying a boutique, and service our clients in that fashion. We are a self-clearing broker dealer mainly for our institutional business, and family office trading activity.
Our clients range from small hedge funds to large pension funds. We also have a significant number of high net worth clients, a prime brokerage platform and a DMA structure as part of our offering. We are relationship driven, and provide a high level service to our clients. The firm is well-capitalised, and has a long standing solid reputation.
The last couple of years have been pretty good for the firm. We pick our spots, identify, and manage risk well. Of course, commissions are off, but we have diversified our offerings to make up for lost revenue.
We’ve benefited because there is a heightened awareness of risk in the market, and firms are hesitant to deal with smaller broker dealers. The broker alliance has been coming to us because they see deals here that are not being shopped around.
SLT: Why has the firm decided that now is the time to expand its securities lending activities?
Losurdo: There is already an internal supply that we will expand and leverage, particularly from our clients on the agency side that we can access. Building out our securities lending group will help to widen our liquidity, and reduce carry costs to our clients.
We’re looking to lend into the market to generate fees. We’re building a network of broker dealers in the US although we expect to expand into the international market in the near future.
Katsingris: Volumes and market volatility are both down. So we feel it’s a good time to be building a lending network and other infrastructure for when the market does rebound.
We do see the markets starting to ramp up for Q2. Street side, a lot of clients are getting back in the market through various trading programmes. These programmes support healthy lending activity, where previously most of that business has almost come to a halt.
SLT: Where will Albert Fried fit into the market?
Losurdo: I don’t want to fit into the markets at all! I want to replicate the success we had at Swiss American Securities [where Losurdo and his deputy Kim Wilson were before moving to Albert Fried in January]. We want to be first at the point of the trade, and fully own our accounts through our multiple business lines.
As far as the type of business I would like to attract, we will start by building the broker dealer relationships that AFCO doesn’t currently have, and from there, we can cross sell to hedge funds and clients. Most importantly we have to build our supply side network to have an edge.
Katsingris: Nobody is interested in nurturing a small broker dealer any more, but we bring the personal touch that bigger clearing firms just can’t - we welcome those types of relationships.
SLT: What targets do you have for the business?
Losurdo: I have over 30 years in the industry and I want to leverage my longstanding relationships in both securities lending and equity/fixed income finance. We plan on bringing in an entirely new client base to the firm. We will be looking at start-up lending groups as new potential clients. I feel there will be many more coming to market in the near future. Our strengths lie in the ability to cross sell securities lending, and prime services to Albert Fried’s current client base and our street-side network.
The securities lending team at Albert Fried is far from complete. We’re going to be adding people as we see fit, people who are on the same page as us, people that have the ability to search out deals, close trades, and still closely managing risk.
SLT: What are your ambitions and expectations for the rest of 2011?
Losurdo: I came into Albert Fried with my eyes wide open, when Anthony explained the type firm, and the long standing relationship the firm has, it just screams securities lending cross sell to me. It has the right culture, focus and staying power needed to take on this endeavor. I feel in two years Albert Fried will have evolved into a complete full service broker dealer. I feel Anthony has the type of spirit and drive needed to build Albert Fried into an entirely different firm then it is today.
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