Online brokerage firm eyes major expansion

Wed, Feb 12th 2014, 06:30 AM

Based on a recent boom in the opening of accounts which he attributes to a surge in younger investors entering the stock market, a Nassau-based online brokerage run by a U.S. investor is projecting that he will increase his all-Bahamian staff five-fold in the next "two to three years", and is aiming to invest between $3 million to $5 million in his own premises by 2016.Guy Gentile, CEO and founder of Suretrader.com, told Guardian Business that he is optimistic the company has a "great shot" at capturing up to 10 percent of the $2 billion global market in non-U.S. traders who are looking to buy and sell U.S. stocks and options online.On Saturday, Gentile hired six additional Bahamian staff to his growing office, bringing the number of employees in total to 20. Suretrader.com launched in Nassau in November 2011 in a 600-square foot office, and within 10 months, expanded into a 4,000-square foot space - one which Gentile said Saturday's additions are now helping to fill."Right now we expect that based on current growth we'll be at around 30 employees by the end of the year," said Gentile, adding that the company currently has over 5,000 account holders and is creating around 600 new accounts a month.Looking ahead, the investor said he hopes that he can eventually employ over 100 people at a purpose-built Swiss America building in New Providence within two to three years. Swiss America Securities is the parent company of Suretrader.The company made its decision to hire new staff this weekend to help keep up with what Gentile said is increasing demand for its online trading services. Suretrader competes with U.S. online trading firms for non-U.S. clients."I think with the stock market being so high right now everyone is trying to get into the market especially when you have stocks like Facebook and Twitter; people want to trade these stocks, and because they are trading and they are not your boring stocks, the typical Proctor and Gamble-type stocks that people use every day but don't realize, it's bringing new types of investors into the market," he said."I am seeing a younger population come to trading; we're seeing traders in college opening accounts for the first time."In addition to the popularity of stocks of major social media companies like Facebook and Twitter, Gentile noted that among the recent trends in trading is an "explosion" in interest in "marijuana stocks" - stocks of companies associated with the legalization and regulation of marijuana in certain parts of the United States.While Gentile noted that he does not necessarily support the legalization of marijuana, he said that he believes these types of stocks will become increasingly popular as sentiment in the U.S. seems to tilt towards easing restrictions on the drug and more and more companies spring up to participate in the market for marijuana products.At present, Gentile estimates his company presently handles around half a percent of the total market in non-U.S. clients looking for online brokerage services."We're looking to grow to around 10 to 20 times our size, and to get to those numbers we'll probably need to have a staff of 200 to 300 people over that time," he said."The reason why we are anticipating that growth is because the industry itself is growing, the entire market share is growing, because of these new types of stocks that are trading."The investor described his operation as "not a traditional brokerage service", as no investment advice is given, but similar in a way to an internet service."It's like when you subscribe to BTC and Cable Bahamas, you are getting online...all I am doing is giving you access to the market, I am not telling you what to buy or sell," he said.Describing his vision, Gentile said he has tried to make his Nassau headquarters as close to a Wall Street trading floor as he could get it."We went into a space that was way to big because there were only six of us when we finally moved to the new space. We built it from scratch; the entire interior was a shell, concrete floor, no ceiling, I wanted it to be a space where when you came in you'd feel like you were in a Manhattan brokerage firm. The desks came from a Wall Street firm; I had them shipped over a few weeks ago. We have 30 stations there and 20 filled. I'm looking forward to filling the rest of it," said Gentile.Technology graduates are among the most desired candidates for employment at the company, he added."Basically what we've been doing over last few years is we never stop interview process every week we're interviewing people and grading them, and we keep a pile of people readily available for hire," he said."We know we're going quickly and we want to pull from the stack of resumes on the fly; this is the first time we hired six people in one shot in one go."We do require a bachelors degree but it doesn't have to be in finance, in fact we prefer for it not be in finance, we prefer people with technology background as even though we are a brokerage firm we consider ourselves a tech company that just happens to be a broker so we want to hire people who understand the online world."The investor said he is very happy with his choice of The Bahamas as the base for his operation."Personally, the close proximity to the U.S. made it comfortable for me to get to, and for clients if they want to fly to us, it has a nice international airport for people to come into."It's fixed to the U.S. dollar, that was convenient, and it has a good regulatory framework, which is great for clients because they're dealing with a regulated entity."The brokers are also required to have a Series 7 equivalent qualification. So I can find people to help me build my business. The Bahamas is also known for the hotel industry and their hospitality so to me combining a banking and hospitality is the best of both worlds," he added.

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