E*TRADE To Add After Hours Trading Through Agreement With Instinet
Milestone Accord To Offer Individual Investors Online Access To All
U.S. Stocks For Longer Hours
MENLO PARK, Calif., Aug. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- E*TRADE(R) Group Inc.
(Nasdaq: EGRP) today announced an agreement in principle with Instinet
Corporation to provide after hours online trading in the United States for
self-directed individual investors seeking to respond to breaking news and
late market developments. This means E*TRADE customers will have access to
after hours trading traditionally available to large institutional investors,
fund managers and broker/dealers.
Instinet, a wholly owned subsidiary of Reuters Group PLC (Nasdaq: RTRSY),
is the world's largest agency brokerage firm and the industry brokerage leader
in after hours trading. Instinet's institutional clients represent more than
90 percent of the institutional equity funds under management in the United
States. Instinet accounts for nearly 20 percent of the Nasdaq daily trading
volume and trades approximately 170 million shares of all U.S. equities daily.
The services contemplated by the agreement will be available in September
and will give E*TRADE another unique competitive advantage in the rapidly
expanding online investing category. With Instinet, E*TRADE will provide its
customers the ability to interact with the largest after hours order flow
available, offering them the best chance of favorable execution.
The linkage gives E*TRADE customers the longest after hours trading
window, from 4 - 6:30 p.m. ET -- twice as long as E*TRADE's nearest
competitor. It also provides customers with unique online access to trading
opportunities in both listed (NYSE) and Nasdaq equities. Other competitors
are limited to Nasdaq trading only.
For E*TRADE customers, standard commission rates will apply, with E*TRADE
maintaining all customer accounts and support associated with the after hours
program. E*TRADE will retain responsibility for maintaining and servicing the
after hours trading of its customers. The agreement also provides E*TRADE
customers access to after hours quotes which are, in fact, actual orders from
Instinet clients.
"The addition of after hours trading reinforces our position as a global
leader and recognized authority in the delivery of electronic personal
financial services," said Christos M. Cotsakos, chairman and chief executive
officer of E*TRADE. "It's yet another way we are empowering the
self-directed, individual investor and bringing more efficiency and
convenience to personal asset management. What our customers want is access
to opportunity and a level playing field with larger institutional investors.
It's all part of democratizing personal investing."
"Instinet strongly believes in changing the rules of brokerage to benefit
all investors and issuers," said Douglas Atkin, president and chief executive
officer of Instinet. "We have long been committed to extending the efficiency
and performance benefits of Instinet to individual investors. By giving
individual investors online access to Instinet through E*TRADE, we are now
linked in a dynamic relationship for achieving our goals."
Instinet also recently announced it has joined a group of investors,
including E*TRADE, by making a strategic investment in Archipelago LLC, one of
the nation's leading Electronic Communications Networks (ECNs). Archipelago
is seeking SEC approval to establish itself as a registered, self-regulating
stock exchange. In June, an Instinet-led consortium of five global financial
firms acquired majority stake in Tradepoint, a U.K. screen-based for-profit
exchange. Archipelago and E*TRADE, through its investment in Archipelago, are
members of the consortium.
The agreement between E*TRADE and Instinet is expected to be completed
within the next few weeks and is contingent upon customary conditions and due
diligence.
About E*TRADE
E*TRADE, a global leader in online personal financial services, has
emerged as the world's most-visited online investing site. The content-rich
Destination E*TRADE web site offers value-added investing and research
features, premium customer service and a fully redundant, proprietary
Stateless Architecture(SM) infrastructure. E*TRADE intends to expand its
global positioning by launching branded web sites in the top 20 financial
markets worldwide.
In recognition of its innovation and industry leadership, E*TRADE was
ranked the number one online brokerage by Gomez Advisors (Summer 1999) and
Lafferty Information and Research Group (4Q98, 1Q99). E*TRADE also was the
first securities and financial services company to be awarded both the
WebTrust seal of assurance by the American Institute of Certified Public
Accountants (AICPA) and the "Trustmark" seal of approval from TRUSTe.
E*TRADE is committed to providing the most comprehensive financial
services experience on the Internet, as demonstrated by its acquisition of
Clearstation.com, a community-based financial analysis site, as well as
strategic investments in E*OFFERING, a full-service online investment bank,
and Archipelago, a leading Electronic Communications Network (ECN).
E*TRADE also is positioned to become the first pure-play e-commerce
company in the financial services sector -- combining online banking and
brokerage services -- through a definitive merger agreement with Telebanc, the
nation's leading branchless bank. It is anticipated that the Telebanc merger
will close this fall. In addition, E*TRADE is poised to become the first
online global trading network with its recently announced acquisition of TIR
Holdings.
E*TRADE Securities Inc. (Member NASD/SIPC), and its parent company,
E*TRADE Group Inc., are headquartered in Menlo Park, Calif.
Instinet Corporation
Instinet Corporation, the world's largest agency brokerage firm, trades in
over 40 global markets daily and is a member of 17 exchanges in North America,
Europe and Asia. The firm is committed to bringing efficiencies to capital
raising worldwide by using technology in securities trading and research to
bring issuers and investors closer together.
Instinet is the worldwide industry leader in applying advanced technology
to agency trading in equities. As a pure agency broker, Instinet seeks only
to increase its clients' investment performance by providing them instant
access to global liquidity, enhanced efficiency, and greater opportunities to
reduce transaction costs. Instinet US institutional clients save about
$1 billion annually in transaction costs for individual investors.
The Elkins/McSherry ranking of global brokers and investment managers
according to execution savings, ranked Instinet as the number one US OTC
broker and number six global broker.
Instinet also offers a variety of advanced electronic research services to
clients, including research and analytics, trading-cost analysis and soft
dollar commissions.
Recently, Instinet has announced its planned expansion into the fixed
income market. Instinet Fixed Income will offer the global capital markets a
unique brokerage product that serves as the electronic link between
professional market participants. Instinet will be the first electronic
brokerage solution for the fixed-income market.
The firm also announced investment and joint venture plans with W.R.
Hambrecht + Co., the founders of Hambrecht's IPO system.
The firm was founded in 1969 and was acquired by Reuters Group PLC in
1987.
Important Notice
E*TRADE is a registered trademark of the company. All other trademarks
are properties of their respective owners. The statements contained in this
news release that are forward-looking are based on current expectations that
are subject to a number of uncertainties and risks, and actual results may
differ materially. The uncertainties and risks include, but are not limited
to, changes in market activity, market acceptance of the new Destination
E*TRADE web site, anticipated increases in the rate of new customer
acquisition, the conversion of new visitors to the site to customers,
seasonality, the development of new products and services, the enhancement of
existing products and services, competitive pressures (including price
competition), system failures, economic and political conditions, changes in
consumer behavior and the introduction of competing products having
technological and/or other advantages. Further information about these risks
and uncertainties can be found in the information included in the annual
report filed by the company with the SEC on Form 10-K (including information
under the caption ("Risk Factors") and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. The
company has not independently verified market size information contained in
this release and provided by Gomez Advisors.
E*TRADE Media Contacts: Instinet Media Contacts:
Tim Alban Terrence Mulry
(650) 331-5865 (212) 310-9554
talban@etrade.com terrence-mulry@instinet.com
Greg Xenakis Lorrie Harte Benwell
Neale-May & Partners 0171-680-3008
(650) 328-5555, ext. 142 lorrie.harte-benwell@instinet.com
gxenakis@nealemay.com
SOURCE E*TRADE Group Inc.
CO: E*TRADE Group Inc.; Instinet Corporation
ST: California
IN: FIN MLM
SU: CON
08/17/99 08:25 EDT prnewswire.com |
