Businessweek

Knight Capital Group, Inc., a financial services company, provides access to the capital markets across multiple asset classes to a network of clients, including buy- and sell-side firms and corporations. Segments The company’s segments include Market Making; Institutional Sales and Trading; and Electronic Execution Services. Market Making This segment principally consists of market making in global equities and listed domestic options. This segment combines liquidity with trading technology to deliver trade executions with client-defined measures. The company applies electronic trading tools, which allow buy-side (also referred to as institutions) and sell-side (also referred to as broker-dealers) clients to interact with the market based on their specific needs and preferences. As a market maker, the company commits capital for trade executions by offering to buy securities from, or sell securities to, institutions and broker-dealers. This segment primarily includes client and non-client electronic market making activities in which the company operates as a market maker in equity securities quoted and traded on the Nasdaq Stock Market; the over-the-counter (OTC) market for New York Stock Exchange (NYSE); NYSE Amex Equities (NYSE Amex); NYSE Arca listed securities; and various European exchanges. The company’s trading strategies also include ETFs, options, futures, and foreign exchange. As a complement to electronic market making, its cash trading business handles specialized orders and also transacts on the OTC Bulletin Board and the OTC Pink Markets. The company provides trade executions as an equities designated market maker on the NYSE and NYSE Amex. This segment also includes its option market making business, which has expanded trading onto various electronic exchanges. The company is connected to various external market centers, including exchanges, electronic communication networks (ECN), alternative trading systems, dark liquidity pools, alternative display facilities, multilateral trading facilities, and other broker-dealers. It is also developing and expanding its capabilities as an electronic options market-maker and operates on 8 electronic exchanges, and makes markets in approximately 1,000 options names. Clients The company offers products and services through electronic and voice access points primarily to global, national, regional, and on-line broker-dealers, and traditional investment banks in North America and Europe. Institutional Sales and Trading This segment includes global equity and fixed income sales, reverse mortgage origination and securitization, capital markets, and asset management activities. The primary business of this segment is to execute and facilitate equities, and fixed income transactions as agent on behalf of institutional clients, and the company commits capital on behalf of its clients when needed. This is primarily a full-service execution business, in which majority of the interaction is based on the company’s client relationships. This segment also facilitates client orders through program, and blocks trades and riskless principal trades, as well as provides capital markets services, including equity and debt private placement. The company provides capital markets services, including equity and debt placement. Its specialized products and services allow the company to have relationships with existing clients, build liquidity across asset classes, and establish relationships with new clients. Clients This segment serves a range of buy-side and sell-side firms across various asset classes. Within the company’s global equities business, it offers products and provides services through various access points primarily to its buy-side clients, including mutual funds, pension plans, plan sponsors, hedge funds, trusts, and endowments across North America and Europe. The company provides buy-side clients with liquidity, actionable market insights, anonymity, and trade executions with minimal market impact. In fixed income sales, the company’s buy-side clients include mutual funds, insurance companies, pension funds, hedge funds, and banks acr