Advanced technology for institutional trading is in demand,
judging not only by the pressures on traders to improve performance
but also by such acquisitions as Townsend Analytics by Lehman
Brothers last December and Lava Trading by Citigroup in 2004. Amid
rapid market-structure and regulatory changes that continually
raise the stakes in algorithmic trading and direct-market access
competition, Burbank, Calif.-based UNX has managed to maintain and
assert its independence as a high-tech institutional brokerage,
shored up in April by strategic equity investments from Goldman
Sachs Group and UBS.
UNX--also backed by venture capital investors Lovell Minnick
Partners, Gazelle TechVentures and Blue Chip Venture Co.--has
bolstered its management team with the appointment of Investment
Technology Group (ITG) veteran J. Scott Harrison as president and
chief operating officer. Harrison, who has been elected to UNX's
board, also became co-chairman of the operating committee,
responsible for the day-to-day management of the firm, including
all operating and support groups. |
