New York-based Nash, Weiss & Co., the market-making unit of Fleet Financial Group in Boston, has changed its name to USCC Trading.
The new name reflects the firm's affiliation with Fleet-owned U.S. Clearing Corp in New York. The firm's new stock symbol is USCT.
"The decision to change our name correlates to the major investment we're making to grow our Nasdaq business and strengthen our trading team," said Neil Feldman, president and chief executive of Nash Weiss.
Nash Weiss hired Feldman in April to run the firm. Previously, he was a partner and managing director at Prime Charter in New York, where he headed the firm's Nasdaq trading operations.
Nash Weiss also hired James J. Welsh in April to assist Feldman in the management of the trading floor. Welsh was previously the head Nasdaq trader at Highlander Asset Management in New York.
Since taking the helm in April, Feldman has hired six traders and staffed a new institutional trading department.
All told, Nash Weiss has 70 traders and makes markets in more than 3,400 U.S. stocks.
According to AutEx, the Boston-based provider of trade data, Nash Weiss traded more than 1.79 billion shares in Nasdaq and over-the-counter securities in the first six months of 1998.
Nash Weiss was originally part of The Quick & Reilly Group, the New York parent company of U.S. Clearing Corp. and New York Stock Exchange specialist JJC Specialist Corp. Quick & Reilly had purchased Nash Weiss in January 1997.
In September 1997, Quick & Reilly was acquired by Fleet in a deal valued at $1.6 billion. Fleet is the nation's tenth largest bank, with more than $84 billion in assets.
