Lighthouse Financial, a New York based investment bank and institutional securities firm, today announced that it is expanding its Institutional Sales & Trading Operations by launching a Derivatives Platform. The new platform consists of 12 professionals that will be led by Tim Youssef and Nimit Savani, who will serve as managing directors and co- heads of Derivatives, based in New York. Collectively, the team brings 125 years of expert equity and credit derivatives sales and trading experience to Lighthouse Financial.
“The knowledge, experience and relationships of these seasoned professionals will enhance our equities and credit platforms and help to continue the expansion of our firm’s Institutional Sales & Trading Operations,” says Rob Weinstein, Lighthouse Financial Partner and Head of Institutional Sales & Trading. “Challenging market conditions and an emphasis on cost savings and risk management have created a unique opportunity to expand Lighthouse Financial’s overall Institutional Sales & Trading Operations offering. The expertise and leadership of Tim Youssef and Nimit Savani will be of tremendous value to our clients.”
Tim Youssef, 39, has over 15 years of industry experience, most recently at Louis Capital Markets, where he was Partner and Head of U.S. Derivatives. Before that, Youssef was a Managing Director at Burlington Capital Markets. In addition, Youssef also held senior equity derivatives trading roles at Merrill Lynch, Bankers Trust, Credit Lyonnais, and a junior trading role Morgan Stanley. Mr. Youssef started his career as options market maker on the American Stock Exchange. Youssef holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical and computer engineering from Drexel University.
Nimit Savani, 35, joins Lighthouse Financial with over 10 years of experience in equity derivatives trading as well as strong management experience. Prior to joining Lighthouse Financial, Savani was the Director of the Equities Derivatives Group at Louis Capital Markets. Prior to that, he was a Senior Equity Derivatives Trader at Tahoe Trading and Botta Capital Management. Savani began his career at Timber Hill, a global proprietary market making firm where he worked closely with the correlation and dispersion team. Savani holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the London School of Economics.
Lighthouse Financial Derivatives Platform will handle agency only transactions. The team will cover all areas of derivatives including:
* Single stock listed and OTC options (variance, dividend swaps, total return swaps)
* ETF listed and OTC options (variance, total return swaps)
* Index listed and OTC options in addition to all delta-1 products (creation/redemption, dividend swaps, total return swaps, correlation swaps, variance swaps, EFP)
* Structured products
* Equity derivatives coverage in U.S. and Canada
* Credit derivatives (single name, index, and loan CDS)
* Corporate bonds (high yield, investment grade)
Presently, the 12 person team, which is still growing, has previous work experience at premier institutions including, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, Societe Generale, Natixis, Bluefin Trading, Link/ICAP, Collins Stewart, and Timber Hill / Interactive Brokers.
The launch of the Derivatives Platform is the second trading group that Lighthouse Financial has announced this year; having previously added a Prime Services group. Both of these additions underscore Lighthouse’s ability to meet the needs of institutional clients based on relationships and professional standards as well as acquire top talent during these unprecedented market conditions.
“The expansion into both the derivatives and prime solutions arenas only further emphasize Lighthouse’s ability to achieve sustainable growth through strategic hiring and product line expansion,” said Jeff Morfit, Lighthouse Financial founding partner and chief executive officer.