Online Broker A.B. Watley Hires Former TD Waterhouse Clearing CEO Peter A. Wigger as Head of Operations
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 9, 2000--A.B. Watley Group Inc. (NASDAQ: ABWG), premier provider of online and institutional trading services through its brokerage firm A.B. Watley, Inc. (www.abwatley.com), today announced that Peter A. Wigger has been named Executive Vice President of Operations and made a member of the A.B. Watley Group Executive Committee. Previously, Mr. Wigger served as an Executive Vice President of TD Waterhouse Securities and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Waterhouse's clearing subsidiary, National Investor Services Corp.
While at TD Waterhouse, Mr. Wigger was responsible for the development and leadership of back-office operations and the subsequent creation of its correspondent clearing subsidiary, National Investor Services Corp. During his tenure at TD Waterhouse, he was instrumental in developing an extremely cost effective trade clearance and settlement operation, enabling Waterhouse to effectively pursue its acquisition of Kennedy Cabot and Jack White & Company.
Mr. Wigger is a key addition to the A.B. Watley management team, bringing with him valuable management expertise in domestic and international settlement, custody and clearing operations, conversions to self-clearing, and risk-management. He will also bring important insights into front and back end systems development and technology solutions for new products and services. Mr. Wigger is expected to make important contributions to lower operating costs, improve customer satisfaction, create new products and services, capture additional revenues, and develop business-to-business, or B2B, opportunities.
A.B. Watley's President and Chief Operating Officer Harry Simpson commented, "We are delighted to have a noted brokerage industry executive such as Peter joining us, particularly as our business continues its rapid expansion. Peter brings with him a wealth of knowledge and will focus on managing and streamlining domestic and international trade processing, customer account operations and systems development. Additionally, Peter will assess various growth strategies such as self-clearing, correspondent clearing operations and other B2B ventures."
Commenting about his appointment Mr. Wigger stated, "I am very excited to join a rapidly growing firm like A.B. Watley who is clearly the leader in servicing the needs of the active investor. I expect to bring significant efficiencies to Watley's back-office operations while helping the management team in its technology development efforts and in evaluating its numerous business opportunities. Certainly, Watley's current volumes and customer balances warrant a serious look at converting to self-clearing. Furthermore, we must consider how to leverage Watley's superior online trading and market data systems together with high quality clearing services and products in a B2B environment."
ABOUT A.B. WATLEY GROUP INC.
A.B. Watley Group Inc. is the parent Company of A.B. Watley, Inc., a multifaceted, technological and service-oriented brokerage firm offering two proprietary online trading systems, UltimateTrader(R) and WatleyTrader(TM), that provide realtime data feed and instantaneous execution for the most active segment of the online trading community. The A.B. Watley, Inc. Institutional Sales and Trading Division specializes in the execution of complex and sensitive large-block equity transactions for institutions, major investment managers, insurance companies, banks, and high net worth individuals. Under its former name, Internet Financial Services Inc., the Company completed its initial public offering of 2,300,000 shares of common stock on April 20, 1999.The company recently reported record 1999 fiscal year end revenues of $20,987,613, an increase of 130% from fiscal year 1998. A.B. Watley Group Inc.'s competitors include Etrade (NASDAQ: EGRP), Charles Schwab (NYSE: SCH), Ameritrade (NASDAQ: AMTD), TD Waterhouse (NYSE: TWE), DLJ Direct (NYSE: DIR),MyTrack(NASDAQ: TRAC) and National Discount Brokers (NYSE: NDB)
SAFE HARBOR STATEMENT
Certain statements contained herein, including statements regarding the development of services and markets and future demand for services and other statements regarding matters that are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements (as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended). Any number of conditions may occur which would materially affect important factors in this analysis and materially change expectations. These factors include, but are not limited to, customer trading activity, loss of one or more significant customers, change in technology, shifts in competitive patterns, ability to manage growth effectively, risks associated with acquisitions including integration risks, risks associated with strategic partnerships, various project-associated risks, substantial competition, general economic conditions, risks associated with intellectual property rights, risks associated with international operations and other risk factors listed from time to time in the A.B. Watley Group Inc.'s filings and reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact:
A.B. Watley Group Inc.
William Arnold, 212/422-1664 ex 5825
warnold@abwatley.com
or
A.B. Watley Group Inc.
Kevin Kelly, 212/422-1664 ex 5826
kkelly@abwatley.com
siliconinvestor.com |
