St. Louis has emerged as one of the nation’s strongest financial centers. With Wachovia’s recent $6.8 billion purchase of AG Edwards, St. Louis is second only to New York in its
concentration of brokerage firms and talent; about 27,000 registered retail brokers call
St. Louis their home office, while New York has just under 37,000. Annual revenues of
St. Louis brokerage firms total more than $14.62 billion.
St. Louis is home to national investment firms, including Wachovia Securities, Edward Jones, Scottrade, and Stifel Nicolaus & Company. These firms in the Wall Street of the Heartland are supported by a large, well-educated and trained financial services workforce.
Edward Jones
Edward Jones is the largest privately held investment company in the nation with 10,000 branches worldwide. The firm is currently expanding their St. Louis area operations with $260 million in construction and hiring up to 1,000 additional workers over ten years. (See article on page 60).
12555 Manchester Road,
St. Louis, MO 63131
Revenue: $4,100,000,000
Founded: 1922
Associates: 37,000
Brokers - Locally: 350
Brokers - Nationally: 10,311
Managing Partner: Jim Weddle
Stifel Nicolaus
Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated is a full-service brokerage and investment banking firm founded in
St. Louis in 1890, and is part of the Russell 2000 Index. In 2005, the parent company, Stifel Financial Corp., took a bold step when it acquired Legg Mason Capital Markets from Citigroup. Through that acquisition, Stifel Nicolaus became one of the largest domestic equity research franchises off Wall Street. In 2006, the company continued to expand through the acquisition of the private client group of Minneapolis-based Miller Johnson Steichen Kinnard, and in 2007 the company acquired FirstService Bank (renamed Stifel Bank & Trust) and continued its planned expansion in the East and Southeast with the acquisition of Ryan Beck Holdings Inc., a financial advisory firm with approximately 400 financial advisors. Today, the firm manages $59.5 billion in client assets through 177 offices in 29 states and the District of Columbia and 3 European offices through Stifel Nicolaus Limited.
One Financial Plaza, 501 N. Broadway,
St. Louis, MO 63102
Revenue: $793,000,000
Founded: 1890
Employees: 3,139
Brokers - Locally: 150* (101 St. Louis Metro)
Brokers - Nationally: 973
(plus 192 affiliated independent representatives)
Chairman & CEO: Ronald J. Kruszewski
*includes outlying Missouri/Illinois
(not counting Chicago area)
Wachovia Securities
In October 2007, Wachovia completed its acquisition of A.G. Edwards, which was ranked 665 on the Fortune 1000, and employed approximately 4,600 in the St. Louis region with reported revenues of $3.1 billion for the fiscal year ending February 2007. The combined retail securities business is headquartered in St. Louis resulting from the merger with the existing Wachovia Securities business, which relocated from Richmond, Va. This merger makes Wachovia Securities the 2nd largest brokerage firm in the country with nearly 15,000 financial advisors and $1.1 trillion in client assets. (See article on page 22).
One N. Jefferson Avenue,
St. Louis, MO 63103
Revenue: $8,700,000,000 (pro forma, as of Oct. 1)
Employees: 33,000
Brokers - Locally: 300
Brokers - Nationally: 14,607
President & CEO: Danny Ludeman
Scottrade
Scottrade, a prominent discount internet stock brokerage firm, made news when it purchased naming rights to the downtown arena where the National Hockey League’s St. Louis Blues play, now known as the Scottrade Center. Scottrade is headquartered in
St. Louis where it employs 890 people. Scottrade has 360 branch offices in 47 states.
12800 Corporate Hill Drive.,
St. Louis, MO 63131
Revenue: $1,027,000,000
Founded: 1980
Employees: 2,190
Total employees in St. Louis (including local branches): 890
Number of licensed brokers in St. Louis: 81
Number of licensed brokers nationally: 599
President: Rodger Riney
Greater St. Louis Selected Other Financial Brokerages
and Advising Companies -
50+ Employees
Bush-O'Donnell & Co Inc.*
Commerce Brokerage Services
First Financial Planners Inc.
Hammond Associates Inc.*
Huntleigh Securities Corp.*
Moneta Group Investment*
Smith, Moore & Co.*
Walnut Street Securities Inc.
Source: “Selectory” Dun & Bradstreet, www.selectory.com
* = Headquartered in Greater St. Louis
And another 860 plus brokerage and advising firms with less than
50 employees call St. Louis home.
Source: “Selectory” Dun & Bradstreet,
www.selectory.com
|
