Rochdale Securities to branch out into fixed-income arena

Rochdale Securities LLC today announced the establishment of a fixed-income sales and trading division.

The fixed-income team will initially focus on mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities and other securities, the firm said in a statement.

Stamford, Conn.-based Rochdale has been an institutional equity-trading firm since its founding in 1975.

The fixed-income group will be led by Brett Houghton, who recently joined the firm, along with Michael Glover and Brandon Dunn.

Mr. Houghton will serve as the head of trading and Mr. Glover and Mr. Dunn are co-heads of sales.

Rochdale has been considering a move into the fixed-income trading space for “a good number of months,” said Kevin Cassidy, the chief operating officer at Rochdale.

“Given what has happened in the last 18 to 24 months, we think it’s a great opportunity,” he said today.

“We think there is an opportunity for firms like ourselves to venture into this space. There is also attractive talent available now.”

Mr. Cassidy said the firm plans to expand and add personnel to the fixed-income team. “We are aggressively looking to get into the space,” he said.

Rochdale also plans to add to its research team, he added.

Mr. Glover joined Rochdale from Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. of New York, where he was a managing director and most recently global head of securitized products sales.

Mr. Houghton was also previously with Lehman, where he led an asset-backed-securities trading desk.

Mr. Dunn joined the firm from UBS Investment Bank, the New York-based investment arm of UBS AG of Zurich, Switzerland, where he was a managing director and head of U.S. structured-products sales.