GFI Group

Last updated
GFI Group, Inc
Company type Subsidiary
Industry Financial services
Founded1987
FounderMichael Gooch, Executive Chairman
Headquarters 55 Water Street,
New York, New York, U.S.
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Colin Heffron, CEO
Products Fixed income, financials, equity, commodity, trading systems, data & analytics, clearing
RevenueUS$ 924.59 million (2012)
US$ 10.5 million (2012)
US$ 8.9 million (2012)
Total assets US$ 1.180 billion (2012)
Total equity US$ 425.16 million (2012)
Number of employees
2,062 (2012)
Parent BGC Partners
Website www.gfigroup.com

GFI Group Inc. (GFI) through its subsidiaries provides brokerage services, trade execution, market data, trading platforms and other software products. Clients are institutional customers in markets for a range of fixed income, financial, equity and commodity instruments. GFI is headquartered in New York City and operates from New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore and 15 other smaller financial centres such as Dublin, Nyon, Bogotá and Tel Aviv.

Contents

GFI operates a hybrid brokerage approach, combining a range of telephonic and electronic trade execution services, depending on the nature of the products and the needs of the individual markets. The company complements its hybrid brokerage capabilities with decision support services, such as data and analytics products, research, real-time auctions and post-transaction services, such as straight through processing ("STP"), clearing (finance) links and trade and portfolio management services. The company was listed on NYSE under GFIG until March 2015.

History

GFI Group Inc. was founded by Michael Gooch in 1987. GFI was the first broker to offer over-the-counter (OTC) US government bond options to the industry. In 2001, GFI acquired FX analytical software company FENICS Software Ltd. In 2005, GFI acquired the North American operations of Starsupply Petroleum LLC, a broker of oil products and related derivative and option contracts. The firm acquired the North American brokerage operations of Amerex Energy in 2006, [1] they are a wholesale broker of electric power, natural gas and emissions products. In 2008, GFI acquired Trayport Ltd, a leading provider of trading software for OTC energy products and other markets. [2]

On September 28, 1999, The GFI group established a new venture to offer an online spot market for international telecommunications minutes, according to Michael Gooch, GFI President and CEO. [3]

In 2010, GFI Group moved its listing from Nasdaq to the NYSE. [4]

In March 2015, GFI delisted from the NYSE following a 56% share buyout by BGC Partners in February 2015. Since the takeover, GFI operates as a division of BGC. [5] In April 2018, a federal judge threw out a lawsuit against GFI Group by former GFI Group shareholders, who claimed a statement by the CEO had resulted in them selling their shares too early. [6]

Operations

GFI Group provides execution services for institutional wholesale customers by either matching their trading needs with counterparties having reciprocal interests or directing their orders to an exchange or other trading venue. Its operations focus on a wide variety of assets: credit, financial, equity and commodity instruments, including both cash and derivative products. In recent years, it has developed cash equity and cash bond brokerage business that complement its brokerage of OTC derivative products, as well as expanding its services for cash instruments, such as corporate fixed income and equities products. In essence, GFI’s primary role as a wholesale broker is to enhance trading liquidity.

Philanthropy

GFI Group supports the Bob Woodruff Foundation [7] in its work educating the public about the needs of service members returning from war. GFI has supported both the foundation and its campaign ReMIND.org. [8] The company was a founding funder of the 13th Stand Up For Heroes Benefit held in September 2019. [9]

Competition

See also

Related Research Articles

In financial services, a broker-dealer is a natural person, company or other organization that engages in the business of trading securities for its own account or on behalf of its customers. Broker-dealers are at the heart of the securities and derivatives trading process.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Financial services</span> Economic service provided by the finance industry

Financial services are economic services tied to finance provided by financial institutions. Financial services encompass a broad range of service sector activities, especially as concerns financial management and consumer finance.

TradeStation Group, Inc. is the parent company of online securities and futures brokerage firms and trading technology companies. It is headquartered in Plantation, Florida, and has offices in New York; Chicago; Richardson, Texas; London; Sydney; and Costa Rica. TradeStation is best known for the technical analysis software and electronic trading platform it provides to active traders and certain institutional trader markets. TradeStation Group was a Nasdaq GS-listed company from 1997 to 2011, until it was acquired by Monex Group, a Tokyo Stock Exchange-listed parent company of one of Japan's leading online securities brokerage firms.

In finance, a swap is an agreement between two counterparties to exchange financial instruments, cashflows, or payments for a certain time. The instruments can be almost anything but most swaps involve cash based on a notional principal amount.

iTraxx is the brand name for the family of credit default swap index products covering regions of Europe, Australia, Japan and non-Japan Asia. Credit derivative indexes form a large sector of the overall credit derivative market. The indices are constructed on a set of rules with the overriding criterion being that of liquidity of the underlying credit default swaps (CDS).

NYSE Euronext, Inc. was a transatlantic multinational financial services corporation that operated multiple securities exchanges, including the New York Stock Exchange, Euronext and NYSE Arca. NYSE merged with Archipelago Holdings on March 7, 2006, forming NYSE Group, Inc. On April 4, 2007, NYSE Group, Inc. merged with Euronext N.V. to form the first global equities exchange, with its headquarters in Lower Manhattan. The corporation was then acquired by Intercontinental Exchange, which subsequently spun off Euronext.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Options Clearing Corporation</span> Financial services business

Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) is a United States clearing house based in Chicago. It specializes in equity derivatives clearing, providing central counterparty (CCP) clearing and settlement services to 16 exchanges. Started by Wayne Luthringshausen and carried on by Michael Cahill. Its instruments include options, financial and commodity futures, security futures, and securities lending transactions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">StoneX Group Inc.</span> Financial services company

StoneX Group Inc. is an American financial services company. The company operates in six areas: commercial hedging, global payments, securities, physical commodities, foreign exchange and clearing and execution services (CES).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intercontinental Exchange</span> American exchange and clearing house company

Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (ICE) is an American company formed in 2000 that operates global financial exchanges and clearing houses and provides mortgage technology, data and listing services. Listed on the Fortune 500, S&P 500, and Russell 1000, the company owns exchanges for financial and commodity markets, and operates 12 regulated exchanges and marketplaces. This includes ICE futures exchanges in the United States, Canada and Europe, the Liffe futures exchanges in Europe, the New York Stock Exchange, equity options exchanges and OTC energy, credit and equity markets.

In finance, a stock market index future is a cash-settled futures contract on the value of a particular stock market index. The turnover for the global market in exchange-traded equity index futures is notionally valued, for 2008, by the Bank for International Settlements at US$130 trillion.

An Inter-dealer broker (IDB) is specialist financial intermediary that facilitates transactions between broker-dealers, dealer banks and other financial institutions rather than private individuals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TP ICAP</span> UK financial services firm

TP ICAP Group plc is a financial services firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. Its stock is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newedge Group</span>

Newedge Group is a global multi-asset brokerage that was formed in 2008 from the merger of Fimat and Calyon Financial, the brokerage arms of French financial companies Société Générale and Credit Agricole, respectively. It offers execution, clearing, and prime brokerage services. Newedge is one of the world's largest futures commission merchants (FCM) and has locations in 14 countries. Newedge, which primarily serves institutional clients, provides access to more than 85 exchanges and employs approximately 2,400 associates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marex (British company)</span> UK-based tech-enabled liquidity hub

Marex is a UK-based financial services company. The company's clients are predominantly commodity producers and consumers, banks, hedge funds, asset managers, broking houses, commodity trading advisors and professional traders. Marex currently has over 1,800 employees and 36 offices across Europe, USA and APAC.

LCH is a British clearing house group that serves major international exchanges, as well as a range of OTC markets. The LCH Group consists of two subsidiaries: LCH Ltd based in London and LCH SA based in Paris.

The international shipping industry can be divided into four closely related shipping markets, each trading in a different commodity: the freight market, the sale and purchase market, the newbuilding market and the demolition market. These four markets are linked by cash flow and push the market traders in the direction they want.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BGC Group</span> American financial services company

BGC Group is an American global financial services company based in New York City and London. Originally formed as part of the larger Cantor Fitzgerald organization, BGC Partners became its own entity in 2004.

A Swap Execution Facility (SEF) is a platform for financial swap trading that provides pre-trade information and a mechanism for executing swap transactions among eligible participants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">J. Christopher Giancarlo</span> American lawyer (born 1959)

J. Christopher Giancarlo is an American attorney and former business executive who served as 13th chairman of the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Giancarlo was sworn in as a CFTC commissioner on June 16, 2014 for a term expiring on April 13, 2019. Starting on January 20, 2017, with President Donald Trump's inauguration, Giancarlo began serving as acting chair of the CFTC. In March 2017, the president nominated Giancarlo to be full-time chair of the commission. Giancarlo was confirmed as chairman of the commission by the United States Senate on August 3, 2017.

Kepler Cheuvreux is an independent European financial services company specializing in research, execution, advisory, and asset management services. Kepler Cheuvreux has 12 offices in Europe, 2 offices in the United States, and 600 employees worldwide.

References

  1. ↑ Market Watch GFI buying Amerex energy brokerage business for $86 mln cash - retrieved 2013-01-01
  2. ↑ Finextra GFI buys Trayport - retrieved 2013-01-01
  3. ↑ "GFI group Announces New Venture to Create Spot Market for International Telecommunications Minutes".
  4. ↑ NYSE GFI transfers to NYSE
  5. ↑ Chad Bray (February 27, 2015). "BGC Partners Gains Control of GFI Group". NY Times Dealbook. Retrieved May 16, 2016.
  6. ↑ Stempel, Jonathan (April 20, 2018), Lawsuit claiming GFI Group pushed shareholders to sell too soon is dismissed, Reuters , retrieved September 10, 2019
  7. ↑ PR Newswire GFI Group to Be Presenting Sponsor of Star-Studded Stand Up for Heroes Event, in Association With the Bob Woodruff Foundation and New York Comedy Festival - retrieved 2013-01-01
  8. ↑ ReMIND.org
  9. ↑ Kaufman, Gil (September 9, 2019), Bruce Springsteen, Jon Stewart Among Headliners For 13th Stand Up For Heroes Benefit, Billboard , retrieved September 10, 2019
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.