BTIG has hired four trading veterans — two sales traders and two equities traders. They are Francis Heine and Joseph Fragala, both sales traders, and Christopher Sula and Phil Dauber, both U.S. equities traders.
Sales trader Fragala, a 15-year veteran, joins as senior vice president while the others all join as managing directors. Fragala reports to Richard Blank, head of global equities.
Heine, a 27-year veteran, had been a sales trader at Morgan Stanley covering global institutions for North and South American equities for the last 22 years. He is working out of BTIG’s Red Bank, N.J. office and reports to Richard Jacklin, head of international equities.
The other three new hires are based in New York. Sula, who was formerly head of cash trading for Knight Securities, has been in the business for 16 years. Dauber, who had been at J.P. Morgan, has been in the business for 25 years. Sula and Dauber report to James Aniello, head of trading at BTIG.
Peter Tarrant, head of business development at BTIG, said the company is not encumbered by balance-sheet intensive businesses like prop trading, which allows it to remain nimble and grow opportunistically during periods of distress in the brokerage industry.
“BTIG’s domestic trading market share continues to grow as we constantly deliver high-touch trading coverage to our client base,” Tarrant said.
Tarrant added that the firm has been successful at attracting talented and experienced professionals to its existing coverage team. In the current environment, BTIG expects to make a number of strategic hires over the next few quarters, he said.
BTIG has been trying to build its global franchise recently, with new hires in London, Hong Kong, and Australia. Tarrant said the company will continue to add capabilities where needed and could expand into other countries in Europe and Asia in the future.
Founded in 2002, BTIG employs nearly 400 professionals in the United States, United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Australia and Singapore.
