Muni's

Mar 16, 2009 9:08 pm

How is it possible to do Muni’s as an independent?  Let’s say you work at MassMutual  or NPC or something like that and they have some kind of money manager arm, but you want to do indivdual Muni’s…how could you do it?

Mar 16, 2009 9:50 pm

At my firm we have access to the same municipal inventory as the PCG guys do. You don’t have to just do packaged products as an indy here.

Mar 17, 2009 12:21 pm

PCG??

Mar 17, 2009 1:51 pm

Private Client Group, sorry. It’s just the wirehouse side.

Mar 17, 2009 2:12 pm

[quote=frumhere]How is it possible to do Muni’s as an independent?  Let’s say you work at MassMutual  or NPC or something like that and they have some kind of money manager arm, but you want to do indivdual Muni’s…how could you do it?[/quote]

Why do you want to sell stuff that is going to get slammed when interest rates rise, again? Do you like 30 year surrender periods?

Mar 17, 2009 7:26 pm

You are going to find that you can trade individual munis on most independent platforms.  The clearing firms typically provide an inventory solution.  At National Financial it is called Bond Trader Pro, at Pershing it is called Bond Central.  They are basically the same inventory of bonds which are provided by hundreds of broker/dealers.  Think of the blue list if you have been at this for awhile, but it’s automated.  The big difference comes in the skill set of the trade desk.  Some independents have soccer mom/order takers while others have people that get it.  I know at our firm, I can find a bond I like from the inventory systems and inevitably our bond traders can search the street and find me a better price or perhaps a better quality bond.  The big difference is that independents usually do not carry their own inventory.  That one is a mixed bag.  I remember how pissed I used to be when I would sell a bond to the trade desk and find it in my firm’s inventory at 5 points higher.  As you dig deeper in your search, find out how much of a profit center the firm’s bond desk represents.     

Mar 23, 2009 1:48 pm

Does anyone know if MassMutual BD has FI access that is reasonable?