Penson Worldwide, the Dallas-based provider of execution, clearing, custody and settlement services on an outsourced basis, has added Edward O’Donnell and Robert Morris its Dallas clearing team, and Laurie Ciotoli to head up business development for Penson Canada.
“”We are experiencing significant growth, not just in Dallas, but across the board, in London, Montreal and Toronto as more correspondents recognize Penson for its new technology, flexibility and client focus, ” says Daniel P. Son, President, Penson Worldwide. “We continue to grow our client base and have various other deals in the wings. This is in addition to USD25 million in new funding from Technology Crossover Ventures, our recent acquisition of Nexa Technologies, Inc. and a number of new signings, including Liquidnet Canada and Orion Securities. With veteran industry specialists like Edward, Robert and Laurie joining our global team, broker/dealers across our key markets will be the beneficiaries.”
Laurie Ciotoli joins Penson Toronto from ADP Dataphile where she successfully managed leading edge projects valued at over CDN 20 million. Her industry experience also includes IDA Investment Dealers Association, IBM/ISM Global Services, CIBC Wood Gundy, Scotia Capital Markets and RBC Dominion Securities, Inc. In her new role, Ciotoli will be responsible for leading business development in the area of fully disclosed clearing. “I’m delighted to join Penson at this stage in its development,” she says. “As the largest independent clearing firm in Canada, Penson uses its flexible approach and client friendly attitude to tackle the big banks – and in many instances, win. I am keen to help further our market share as we consolidate our existing business and grow our pipeline of prospective correspondents.”
In the US, Robert Morris joins Penson Financial Services, Inc. from The Bank of New York, Pershing LLC, where he was Vice President and Relationship Manager. Other previous appointments include Fidelity Investments, Morgan Stanley and Dean Witter Reynolds. With 18 years’ industry experience, Morris’s career successes include doubling the Bank of New York’s annual regional revenue, prior to the Pershing acquisition, to USD10 million.
Edward O’Donnell joins Penson from St. Louis-based correspondent clearing firm, Dain Correspondent Services where he spent seven years as Vice President. Prior to that, he built up almost two decades’ experience working in financial services firms Royal Alliance, Walnut Street Securities and The New England. “For several years now the industry has been dominated by the large, bank-owned players,” he says. “We’re now seeing this focus shift as more companies look for a flexible and technology focused provider with a tailored service to suite the specific needs of each correspondent.”
In In Morris’s view, Penson Worldwide is “a bit of a fox in the henhouse scenario. Penson is ‘the new kid on the block’, with technology that is decades ahead of the legacy systems entrenched within many of its competitors’ systems.”
Penson says it is now ahead of ABN Amro, as the US’s sixth largest clearing firm by number of clients, as measured by Investment News, July 2004.