Scudder Kemper Investments is ranked among the top ten buy-side firms in the globe as measured by assets under management and trading volume. The New York-based firm will become even larger with its planned acquisition of London-based Threadneedle Asset Management later this year.
Scudder itself is the successor firm of Swiss insurance giant The Zurich Group and investment manager Scudder, Stevens & Clark, which merged on Dec. 31, 1997.
Scudder's ten-person 24-hour international equity-trading desk in New York runs three shifts: Europe (3:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.), Latin America and Canada (7 a.m. to 5 p.m.) and Asia (6 p.m. to 4 a.m.). The desk is closed on Saturday, reopening Sunday at 6 p.m.
Scudder's international desk is headed by Mike Bellaro, who reports to Peter Jenkins, the overall head of equity trading and managing director at Scudder. For Bellaro, managing the desk means rising at 1:45 a.m. for work.
Bellaro's typical schedule:
1:45 a.m: He wakes.
2: 15 a.m: German market opens. Bellaro telephones German broker "to discuss what's going on in the rest of the market and instruct them on my orders." (German markets open at 2:30 a.m.)
2:30 a.m. to 2:45 a.m: He telephones Jennifer Gaulrapp, who runs the Asian and Far East desk at Scudder.
2:45 a.m. to 3:45 a.m: Drives to work. No ordinary commute, he is in constant contact with his brokers. Later he will be too busy to give them his full attention.
3:45 a.m: He arrives at Scudder's 345 Park Avenue office. Barring meetings, his office day usually ends around 2 p.m. On his drive back home and until 4 p.m., he will stay in touch with Latin American trading.
4 p.m. to 5 p.m: He takes calls at home. Brokers will review their assessment on the day's sector flows and overall market activities.
5 p.m. to 8 p.m: He discusses tomorrow's strategy with the fund managers. Time out? His phone is never turned off, even when he hits the sack by 8 p.m. The call may mean business. M.N.D.
