Dallas, Texas 02/10/2014 (FINANCIALSTRENDS) – The S&P 500 index tracked, $5.82 billion market capped national investment brokerage firm E TRADE Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:ETFC) announced on 30th January, that it would be able to offer access to its retail investors even the most sought after and premium IPO shares going forward, thanks to its tie up with under writing firm Jefferies LLC.
The tie up which is being touted as a “retail alliance” by E TRADE Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:ETFC) between itself and Jefferies LLC ( which handled 33 IPO and secondary issues in 2013) is expected to make the stock of initial public offerings and secondary offerings more accessible to retail investors in comparison to the exposure retail investors trading with the likes of as Charles Schwab Corp and TD Ameritrade Holdings. This is because most retail investors believe that these sought after IPO are reserved by these brokerage firms for its high profile institutional investor clientele at the expense of retail investors.
E TRADE Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:ETFC) President Navtej Nandra, highlighting the advantages that this tie up is going to provide to retail investors, has been quoted to have said in a prepared statement that “any client, regardless of account size or length of relationship with the broker, can participate in a Jefferies offering if they meet suitability criteria and submit bids to buy at the offering price or higher. Customers can monitor offerings through customized alerts and make offers through our on-line New Issue Centre.” In order to forestall calls for transparency in allotting these positions, the brokerage firm has indicated that they have developed a elaborate set of rules and criteria which will be followed in selecting eligible participants without showing any undue favour.
Jefferies CEO Richard Handler has been quoted to have said that the tie up with E TRADE Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:ETFC) will enhance its value proposition, when they canvas new corporate issuers.
