| Topic Name: |
Interesting Article |
| Message Name: |
Pt. 1 |
| Date Posted: |
03/27/2003 |
| Message: |
-- =DJ Options Report: TD Pulls Out Of Pacific Exchange --
By Kopin Tan
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Fifteen months after its splashy entrance, TD Bank
Financial Group is paring back the scope of its option specialist business, and
will shutter its equity option operation at the Pacific Exchange.
The Toronto company's TD Securities unit will stop making markets as the
Pacific Exchange specialist in more than 100 option classes including Amgen,
Best Buy, Disney, Johnson & Johnson, Motorola, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments.
The San Francisco-based exchange is working to reassign TD's specialist books,
which account for about 10% of its option classes, to other "strong, capable
candidates," said Dale Carlson, its vice president for corporate affairs. He
declined to discuss details, which have yet to be finalized.
One firm that might step into TD's trading pit is Morgan Stanley, which is now
considering whether to accept some of TD's mandates, said people with knowledge
of the matter. Morgan Stanley officials didn't return calls, and a spokeswoman
declined comment. The Pacific Exchange also is discussing the matter with other
specialists and Wall Street firms.
Because TD has been shopping some of its specialist books to potential buyers,
the pullback didn't surprise people in the industry. But Morgan Stanley's
interest created a buzz among traders at the Pacific and other exchanges.
For one thing, the Wall Street firm now makes markets as an option specialist
at the electronic International Securities Exchange, but not at any floor-based
option exchanges; in fact, it recently pulled its floor brokers from the Chicago
Board Options Exchange.
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