Cantor Names Head Of Business Targeting Retail Order Flow

Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. has snared an executive from Knight Capital Group (KCG) to help build its retail equity broker-dealer business.

James P. Smyth joined Cantor as managing director and head of the business, which Cantor recently launched to attract retail orders from other broker dealers. Smyth will work closely with Peter Gallo, Cantor's head of electronic trading, the firm said in a statement.

Smyth was previously executive vice president at Knight Equity Markets, where he oversaw the firm's retail and fixed income broker-dealer business.

Cantor, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), and Credit Suisse (CS) have been building this business, also called wholesale market-making, to attract more order flow from brokerages like TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. (AMTD) and Charles Schwab Corp. (SCHW).

Wholesalers reap profits by using automated trading strategies to quickly turn over the positions for small gains. Payments from wholesalers to brokerage firms are seen keeping trading commissions low for retail customers.

It is an area that has been dominated by Knight, UBS AG (UBS), E*Trade Financial Corp. (ETFC), Citigroup (C) and hedge fund Citadel LLC.

-By Liz Moyer, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2512; [e-mail]