New U.S. prime brokerage unit adding more senior execs

The new prime brokerage unit launched earlier this year by trade execution and clearing specialist INTL FCStone continues to add to its roster as it wrestles for space in the highly competitive yet potentially lucrative business. The latest addition is Michael McLoughlin, a former director at Cowen who will head up prime brokerage trading. He began earlier this week in Atlanta.

A source close to the firm said that two more hires will start next week: a new head of securities lending in Atlanta and a cap intro associate in New York. The trio are being brought on soon after the firm hired Lindsay Sine, former branch manager of Goldman Sachs’ Chicago-based prime brokerage business. Sine began as the director of client services and onboarding in March.

McLoughlin will be a familiar face to many on the new team. After working in equity trading for the better part of two decades, including a five-year stint at Credit Suisse, McLoughlin in 2010 moved on to ConvergEx, where he joined Douglas Nelson, the former CEO of its prime services division who is now the co-head of prime brokerage at FCStone. McLoughlin is also reuniting with fellow co-heads Nelson and Michael DeJarnette, both of whom also worked at ConvergEx and its acquiring company, Cowen.

Known mostly for its role in commodities and energy markets, FCStone is entering the prime services market at an interesting time when several traditional investment banks, including Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank, have been pulling back due to its capital intensive nature.  Meanwhile, Cantor Fitzgerald, Standard Bank and BNY Mellon are building up their presence.

Nelson told us late last year that FCStone was looking to make more than a dozen new hires at its base in Atlanta as well as in New York and along the West Coast. He echoed that sentiment last month with the business now up-and-running.

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