Jefferies & Company, Inc., the principal operating subsidiary of Jefferies Group, Inc. (NYSE: JEF), today announced the hiring of Patrick A. Neal as head of Derivatives Strategy in the Firm’s Equities Division. Neal has eight years of experience in the securities industry primarily focused on equity derivatives trading and education, most recently as senior derivatives strategist and head of product education at Banc of America Securities.
Neal will be responsible for building out Jefferies’ derivatives strategy efforts within the Firm’s established New York-based Equity Derivatives Group, led by managing director, Alexander D. Wohl. He will provide the Firm’s institutional clients with actionable trading ideas and market commentary. The team, specializing in listed options, ETFs and OTC options and swaps, serves an institutional, corporate and private client base. In addition to equity derivatives and structured products, Jefferies’ broader equities effort includes cash equities, prime brokerage, securities finance, program trading and state-of-the-art algorithms for small- and mid-cap securities.
In a joint statement, Jason D. Griffith and Ross L. Stevens, co-heads of the Firm’s Equities Department commented: "Mr. Neal has impressive expertise in equity derivatives and will complement our efforts in derivatives and structured products. We are confident that he will be instrumental in building a top-notch derivatives strategy team that will help drive revenue across the platform through value-added idea generation, market commentary and education."
"Derivatives have proven to be an innovative and powerful asset to institutional portfolios with proper understanding and usage," added Neal. "I look forward to enhancing the Firm’s expertise in derivatives and combining information and developments in the derivatives market with that of other areas of the firm to provide clear and concise cross market commentary to its institutional investors."
While at Banc of America Securities, Mr. Neal was also a senior sales person covering a variety of hedge fund and institutional clients trading both listed and OTC derivatives. He oversaw the publication of market commentary, and regularly lectured on topics relating to listed and OTC derivatives. He has a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and will be based in the Firm’s New York City headquarters office.
