Financial News Online US – RBC Capital Markets will acquire trading-system provider Carlin Financial Group in order to grow the investment bank’s reach with hedge funds.
Greg Mills, global head of equity sales and trading for RBC, said the primary motivation behind the acquisition was to court hedge funds, with the aim of selling them other services such as investment banking advice.
“It will give us an opportunity to cover a client segment that we don’t presently cover in a meaningful way,†Mills said.
Carlin provides trading software for professional traders and hedge fund managers. Mills defined “professional traders†as those managing between $5m (€4.0m) and $25m, and emerging hedge fund managers as those with $25m to $500m under their belts.
RBC has a large prime brokerage in Canada – where it is also the country’s biggest broker-dealer – but its US prime brokerage numbers only around 10 people, according to RBC’s Mills.
