--
In this article, I have compiled a list of financial services firms with brief descriptions on what they do as well as their geographic headquarters.
- Investment Banks
- Hedge Funds
- Proprietary Trading firms
- Sports Betting firms
- Crypto Trading firms
- Exchanges
Feel free to utilise this article as a reference guide for your job applications.
Investment banks generate revenue through their Investment Banking and Sales & Trading (Global Markets) divisions.
In Investment Banking, they assist companies in raising capital through IPOs, debt underwriting and equity underwriting, while also offering advisory services for mergers and acquisitions (M&A).
In Sales and Trading, the Investment Bank provides liquidity for entities like corporates, pension funds, and hedge funds. The banks trade many OTC products like FX, Rates and Credit but it can also trade more complex products which require structuring.
- Bank of America — Charlotte, North Carolina, United States
- Barclays — London, United Kingdom
- BNP Paribas — Paris, France
- Citigroup — New York City, New York, United States
- Credit Suisse — Zurich, Switzerland
- Danske Bank — Copenhagen, Denmark
- Deutsche Bank — Frankfurt, Germany
- Goldman Sachs — New York City, New York, United States
- HSBC (Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) — London, United Kingdom
- Jefferies — New York City, New York, United States
- JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JP Morgan) — New York City, New York, United States
- Lazard — New York City, New York, United States
- Lloyds Bank — London, United Kingdom
- Macquarie Group — Sydney, Australia
- Morgan Stanley — New York City, New York, United States
- MUFG (Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group) — Tokyo, Japan
- NatWest (National Westminster Bank) — Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
- Nomura Holdings — Tokyo, Japan
- Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) — Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Santander Group — Madrid, Spain
- Société Générale — Paris, France
- Standard Chartered — London, United Kingdom
- UBS (Union Bank of Switzerland) — Zurich, Switzerland
Hedge funds are investment funds typically for high-net-worth individuals and institutional investors. They employ more complex strategies with derivatives, short-selling and leverage which can potentially give greater risks and greater rewards. Hedge funds often target absolute returns, meaning they seek to achieve positive returns regardless of market conditions.
The typical hedge fund fee strcuture is 2/20–2% of asset under management and a 20% performance fee. Different types of hedge funds can include: Quantitative, Global Macro, Long/Short Equity & Multi-Strat.
- Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) — Based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
- Acadian Asset Management — Based in London, United Kingdom
- AQR Capital — Based in Greenwich, Connecticut, United States
- Aspect Capital — Based in London, United Kingdom
- Balyasny Asset Management — Based in Chicago, United States
- Bainbridge Partners — Based in London, United Kingdom
- Bluefin Capital Management — Based in New York City, United States
- Brevan Howard — Based in London, United Kingdom
- Capula Investment Management — Based in London, United Kingdom
- Caxton Associates — Based in New York City, United States
- Citadel — Based in Chicago, United States
- DE Shaw — Based in New York City, United States
- Eisler Capital — Based in London, United Kingdom
- ExodusPoint Capital Management — Based in New York City, United States
- Farringdon Capital — Based in London, United Kingdom
- iSAM — Based in London, United Kingdom
- GAM Systematic — Based in Cambridge, United Kingdom
- G-Research — Based in London, United Kingdom
- Graham Capital Management — Based in Rowayton, Connecticut, United States
- GSA Capital — Based in London, United Kingdom
- Haidar Capital Management — Based in New York City, United States
- Man Group — Based in London, United Kingdom
- Maniyar Capital — Based in London, United Kingdom
- Millenium Partners — Based in New York City, United States
- Odey Asset Management — Based in London, United Kingdom
- OxFORD Asset Management — Based in Oxford, United Kingdom
- Point 72 — Based in Stamford, Connecticut, United States
- Qube Research & Technologies — Based in London, United Kingdom
- Rokos Capital — Based in London, United Kingdom
- Schonfeld — Based in New York City, United States
- Seamless Capital — Based in Cambridge, United Kingdom
- Sona Asset Management — Based in London, United Kingdom
- Squarepoint Capital — Based in New York City, United States
- Systematica Investments — Based in St Helier, Jersey
- Trexquant Investment — Based in Stamford, Connecticut, United States
- Two Sigma — Based in New York City, United States
- The Tudor Group — Based in Greenwich, Connecticut, United States
- Verition Fund Management — Based in Greenwich, Connecticut, United States
- Voleon Group — Based in Berkeley, California, United States
- Winton — Based in London, United Kingdom
- WorldQuant — Based in Greenwich, Connecticut, United States
- Xantium Group — Based in Greenwich, Connecticut, United States
Asset Managers manage investment funds for individuals, corporates and pension funds. They typically take on less risk and deploy more standard investment strategies compared to a hedge fund.
- AllianceBernstein — Based in New York City, United States
- Amundi — Based in Paris, France
- AXA Investments — Based in Paris, France
- BlackRock — Based in New York City, United States
- Investec — Based in London, United Kingdom
- Janus Henderson Investors — Based in London, United Kingdom
- PIMCO — Based in Newport Beach, California, United States
- Rothesay Life — Based in London, United Kingdom
- Schroders — Based in London, United Kingdom
- State Street Corporation — Based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States
- T. Rowe Price — Based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States
A proprietary trading firms trades using its own capital rather than client funds. A lot of proprietary trading firms deploy high-frequency trading (HFT) and market-making strategies.
- ABC Arbitrage — Based in Paris, France
- Akuna Capital — Based in Chicago, United States
- All Options — Based in Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Alphagrep — Based in Mumbai, India
- Belvedere Trading — Based in Chicago, United States
- Chicago Trading Company — Based in Chicago, United States
- Citadel Securities — Based in Chicago, United States
- Da Vinci Derivatives — Based in Amsterdam, Netherlands
- DRW — Based in Chicago, United States
- DV Trading — Based in Chicago, United States
- Eclipse Trading — Based in Hong Kong
- Epoch Capital — Based in Sydney, Australia
- Five Rings Capital — Based in New York, United States
- Flow Traders — Based in Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Geneva Trading — Based in Chicago, United States
- Headlands Technologies — Based in Chicago, United States
- Hudson River Trading — Based in New York, United States
- IMC — Based in Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Jane Street — Based in New York, United States
- Jump Trading — Based in Chicago, United States
- Mako Trading — Based in London, United Kingdom
- Maven Securities — Based in London, United Kingdom
- NXT Capital BV — Based in Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Old Mission Capital — Based in Chicago, United States
- Optiver — Based in Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Quadrature — Based in London, United Kingdom
- Quadeye — Based in Gurugram, India
- Susquehanna — Based in Bala Cynwyd, United States
- Tibra Capital — Based in Sydney, Australia
- Tower Research Capital — Based in New York, United States
- TradeLink Holdings — Based in Chicago, United States
- Tyler Capital — Based in London, United Kingdom
- Valkyrie Trading — Based in Chicago, United States
- Virtu Financial — Based in New York, United States
- Wolverine Trading — Based in Chicago, United States
- XTX Markets — Based in London, United Kingdom
- XY Capital — Based in Hong Kong
Sports Betting firms are similar to proprietary trading firms except that they trade on the sport-betting markets as opposed to the financial markets.
- Gambit Research — London, United Kingdom
- Mustard Systems — London, United Kingdom
- Smarkets — London, United Kingdom
A commodity trading firm is a company that engages in the buying, selling, and trading of physical commodities or derivative contracts based on commodities. These firms operate in various commodity markets, including energy, agriculture, metals, and soft commodities.
They may participate in both physical trading, involving the actual delivery of commodities, and financial trading, where contracts are bought and sold for speculative purposes. Additionally, they may provide hedging and risk management services to producers, consumers, and investors in the commodities market.
- ADM (Archer Daniels Midland) — Chicago, Illinois, United States
- BP — London, United Kingdom
- Bunge Limited — White Plains, New York, United States
- Cargill — Minnetonka, Minnesota, United States
- Castleton Commodities International — Stamford, Connecticut, United States
- EDF Trading — London, United Kingdom
- Glencore — Baar, Switzerland
- Gunvor Group — Geneva, Switzerland
- Hartree Partners — New York City, New York, United States
- Koch Supply & Trading — Wichita, Kansas, United States
- Louis Dreyfus Company — Rotterdam, Netherlands
- Mercuria Energy Group — Geneva, Switzerland
- Noble Group — Hong Kong, China
- Trafigura — Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Vitol — Rotterdam, Netherlands
Crypto Trading firms are similar to hedge funds and propertiary trading firms but for the cryptocurrency markets.
- Alpha Lab Capital — London, United Kingdom
- B2C2 — London, United Kingdom
- Byte Trading — New York City, New York, United States
- Enigma Securities — London, United Kingdom
- Fasanara Capital — London, United Kingdom
- GSR — Hong Kong, China
- Numeus — Zurich, Switzerland
- Portofino Technologies — Hong Kong, China
- Wintermute — London, United Kingdom
Exchanges provide trading platforms for a wide range of derivative products and commodities. They play crucial roles in price discovery, risk management, and hedging for market participants worldwide.
- CME Group — Chicago, Illinois, United States
- Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) — Atlanta, Georgia, United States
And that concludes this week’s edition. Don’t forget to show your support by liking and subscribing for bi-weekly articles packed with complimentary insights, code snippets, and resources dedicated to Quantitative Finance.
Thanks for reading Quant Prep! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
- Twitter: @quant_prep
- LinkedIn: Quant Prep
- Medium: @quant_prep
- Free Stoikov Market Making code: here
- Free BTC Options Analysis code: here