JMP Securities plans to triple its market share of institutional commissions in the next five years by growing its presence in New York.
That was the message from JMP chairman and chief executive Joe Jolson to analysts this week during the San Francisco-based institutional brokerage’s quarterly conference call. The exec wants to expand JMP’s market share of the institutional commission pie from 36 basis points to 1 percent.
“To meet our goal, we need to build our sales and trading presence in the greater New York marketplace and improve our corporate access product and its delivery while continuing at the same time to grow the number of companies under coverage by around 30 percent to 450 to 500 names,” Jolson said. “We must also continue our efforts to increase the institutional relevancy of the companies we cover from the standpoint of market cap as well as liquidity.”
Jolson’s assessment of JMP’s market share is based on data provided by McLagan, a management consultant that works with financial services companies. The exec noted that an increase to 1 percent over the next 5 years would translate into a doubling of its net brokerage revenues. Last year, the firm took in $22 million in net brokerage revenues, down from $36 million in 2008.
JMP has started to build up its operations in New York, hiring Tom Wright as director of equities from Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. in March. Wright was global head of trading at Bernstein. At JMP, he is responsible for both trading and research sales. Wright has already hired two senior sales and trading execs in New York, according to Jolson.
As part of the changes, JMP’s long-time head of sales and trading, Maureen McCarthy, left the firm in March, according to regulatory fillings provided by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. McCarthy was based in San Francisco.
JMP’s stock is trading at roughly $6.50, up from $5.25 at the start of the year.
