R.J. O’Brien and Associates, Inc. (RJO), one of the oldest and largest futures commission merchants in Chicago, says its customer assets had grown to more than $1.6 billion by the end of Q3 2005, a one-year increase of 56%. RJO’s Q3 revenues surged 57% to $46 million along with a 37% increase in futures and options trading volume at major US exchanges.
RJO also announced that it has become a full clearing member of Eurex AG and EuronextLIFFE exchanges in anticipation of expanding its business overseas.
“Many of our customers who have been using RJO for their domestic trading also have trading needs in these European markets,” says RJO’s Chief Executive Officer Gerald F. Corcoran. “By joining Eurex and EuronextLIFFE we offer our customers access to these markets with the same high quality service they are accustomed to domestically.”
RJO posted total futures and options trading volume of 27.46 million through the first three quarters of 2005, a 24 percent increase over the same period last year. Its revenues of $123.8 million during that period represent an increase of 18%.
“Our asset base continues to grow at a strong pace because of our investment in sophisticated electronic and floor-trading services, our commitment to a strong network of introducing brokers and institutional hedging strategies, as well as our expansion into new markets,” Corcoran added. “Our strong and growing capital base will allow us to continue to grow at an accelerated pace into the future.
RJO has experienced particularly strong growth in trading at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, where volume in futures contracts increased 30% to 4.17 million from Q3 2004; and options on futures trading volume increased 244% to 1.32 million during same period. RJO also experienced strong volume growth on the Chicago Board of Trade and the New York-based futures exchanges.
RJO has grown dramatically in the Futures magazine rankings of the TOP50 BROKERS, published annually – from 27th in 1999 when RJO had $215 million in customer assets to 19th in 2004.