Penserra Securities, a specialist in global institutional trading and related brokerage services, is bolstering its US equities presence and capabilities with the addition of Hal Smolanoff, Ethan Vickery, Rob Carr and Andrew Fishkind.
The group of industry veterans will operate out of the New York City office.
"Penserra continues to seek innovative ways to improve execution performance for our clients across the global equity markets and, as such, we continue to recruit forward-thinking and client-focused professionals," says George Madrigal, chief executive officer of Penserra Securities.
Since 2008, the firm has focused on enhancing anti-gaming execution strategies which includes a deep understanding of the complex attributes of the many equity execution venues.
Smolanoff and Vickery will work to expand on Penserra's existing trading capabilities in single-stock execution for the US equity markets. Smolanoff and Vickery both worked at Pulse Trading, which grew into a nationally regarded broker known for high-touch quality execution. Pulse was acquired by State Street Global Markets in 2011.
"The various proprietary trading strategies we have developed to benefit and protect our customers are a direct complement to Penserra's trading philosophy," says Smolanoff. "Our collective view is to look out for the best interest of our customers as we navigate the increasingly complex equity markets in the US and abroad."
Carr (previously with Fidelity, Weeden, and Fox River) and Fishkind (one of the founders of Aqua ATS) both have extensive backgrounds in equity trading, electronic platforms and algorithms. They will work to expand the firm's presence in the institutional client community by providing sales and marketing across equity execution services.
