RETHINKING BULGE-BRACKET RELATIONSHIPS

摘要

The rapid demise of Bear Stearns could be a wake-up call for buy-side traders who are consolidating their trading and research relationships with bulge-bracket firms. "There's been the assump-rntion in the past that if you trade with a large Wall Street firm that there's no risk - that you're achieving best execution and getting your research covered," says Kristi Wetherington, president and CEO of Capital Institutional Services (CAPIS), an agency broker based in Dallas. "The Bear Stearns meltdown has called into question the practice of consolidating brokers with only the largest Wall Street firms. It's a wake-up callrnfor the buy side," asserts Wetherington, who, as CEO of a smaller agency brokerage, has something to gain from buy-side firms diversifying their brokerage relationships.