Rosenblatt Hires Charlop

By: Ray Pellecchia

File Under: NYSE

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Neither is a household name outside the Exchange community (at least not yet; apologies, Dick and Gordon!) but nonetheless, this is interesting news: Rosenblatt Securities Hires Wall Street Veteran Gordon Charlop To Head NYSE Floor Operations - Move Is Continuation Of Firm’s Contrarian Bet (Mondo Visione) Excerpt:

Rosenblatt Securities is pleased to announce that it has hired Gordon Charlop as Managing Director in charge of the firm’s New York Stock Exchange floor operations.

Charlop, formerly president and CEO of agency brokerage WJ Dowd, will oversee a floor staff that has grown during the past two years from six to nine people. Rosenblatt’s move stands in contrast to the actions of many other brokerages, especially the big global players that traditionally have provided the bulk of the NYSE’s order flow, which have cut their floor staffs significantly. Rosenblatt views these moves as overreactions. Over the past five years the firm has diversified from its roots as an independent floor brokerage and now derives the vast majority of its revenues from upstairs trading and other businesses, but it firmly believes that the ability to represent customer orders on the NYSE floor, which still commands nearly 40% market share in Big Board-listed stocks, remains an essential tool for achieving best execution.

“We believe it’s important to represent our clients wherever the liquidity they need resides, whether it be in the various electronic markets to which we connect or on the NYSE floor,” said Dick Rosenblatt, Founder and CEO of Rosenblatt Securities and an NYSE Executive Floor Governor. “The management of the exchange is committed to maximizing the strategic value of the floor, and by expanding our floor presence, especially now with Gordon’s leadership, we believe we will be well positioned for coming changes to the NYSE’s market structure aimed at stabilizing and reclaiming lost market share.”

Gordon started his career as a clerk on the Amex floor, and has been an active participant in NYSE broker committees focused on trading technoloogy. These days, you sometimes see him interviewed by Mark Haines and Erin Burnett on CNBC's "Squawk Box." I see his hiring as another validation of the idea that participation on the NYSE trading floor can be a contributing component of a firm's diversified approach to trading.

I also know him as a fellow Yankees fan who knows how to conduct a first-class baseball argument. Over the course of months.

Seriously, congratulations to Dick and Gordon.

Changing subjects, your humble blogger may be somebody's humble juror this week; I've been snagged for jury duty. Posting here will be light, unless I can work some in while waiting for my number to be called, as I'm doing now. Have a great week, my friends.

Today in NYSE History
24 March, 1942 -- For the second time in history, the NYSE recommended the purchase of a specific security - War Savings Bonds. The first recommendation, embracing Liberty Bonds, was made during World War I.