The Miami office is okay, at least one of them, that is. A good friend of mine works in that office. He's ex Bear. I like the LA branch manager, no bullsh*t kind of guy.

Which office?

It’s just one uptick from a bucket shop. I ended up there through acquisition and got out as soon as I could (a few months).

[quote=Helter Skelter]It's just one uptick from a bucket shop. I ended up there through acquisition and got out as soon as I could (a few months). [/quote]

That is my impression too--they've got some really questionable types.

Isn’t that the old Fahnstock and Co?

[quote=Helter Skelter]It’s just one uptick from a bucket shop. I ended up there through acquisition and got out as soon as I could (a few months). [/quote]

OK…what’s a “bucket shop” ???

[quote=joedabrkr]Isn't that the old Fahnstock and Co? [/quote]

Yes, and I think what happened was Fahnestock bought Oppenheimer's rather shady B/D that had a small branch network, folded it into their organization, and then opted to use the Oppenheimer name because it had more name recognition than Fahnestock.

I'm not sure, but I think the name Oppenheimer is not the same as the mutual fund family--Oppenheimer has been a well known name around Wall Street for a long time, maybe back to the 1800s.

There is a guy with a small office on East 57th named Phil Oppenheimer who calls his firm "P. Oppenheimer & Co." because he's one of the family and wants to capitalize on the family name.

A bucket shop is a firm which specializes in micro-cap offerings, relies on cold call brokers, and hires brokers with messed up U-5's because no one else will.

OPY is NOT related (and never was to my knowledge) to the Oppenheimer Mutual fund family.

Fahnestock was a bit of a chop shop. The old OPY (prior to the Fahnestock deal) had a good reputation with the exception of a few market timers.

My friend, the ex Bear, joined OPY in Miami for 1 reason only. No Bear office in Miami and a desire to live there (tired of NYC). His U-4 is spotless, his 70% HNW retail clients love him, his institutional ones like him, his BA is from an almost Ivy League school back east, his oldest son's at Harvard Medical school, the middle son is in his 3rd year of law school at Georgetown, and his daughter just finished up at U of Miami.

Again, it all depends on which OPY office you're talking. They have a few issues at some of them.

[quote=Knows Wall St.]

[quote=joedabrkr]Isn’t that the old Fahnstock and Co? [/quote]

Yes, and I think what happened was Fahnestock bought Oppenheimer's rather shady B/D that had a small branch network, folded it into their organization, and then opted to use the Oppenheimer name because it had more name recognition than Fahnestock.

I'm not sure, but I think the name Oppenheimer is not the same as the mutual fund family--Oppenheimer has been a well known name around Wall Street for a long time, maybe back to the 1800s.

There is a guy with a small office on East 57th named Phil Oppenheimer who calls his firm "P. Oppenheimer & Co." because he's one of the family and wants to capitalize on the family name.

Benmoshe would be happy to own the world.

On my happy at OPY friend in Miami, he only lists 2 employers on his U-4 (Bear for 18 and OPY for 11).

Would he go back to Bear? Yes, if Bear opened a satellite office in Miami.

Does he churn (trade too often) client accounts? Not to my knowledge, though he's a transactional broker and thus far his clients like the fact most of their trades are in the money (no complaints out of them for 29 plus years).

By the way, MERrill just placed an "esteemed" 25 year plus manager in SF on "administrative leave" last week because the NYSE and others are probing him for "failure to supervise" their market timers. Almost every firm on the Street got caught up in that action to some extent.

Granada, which office? I will give you an honest "it's okay, it's great, or steer clear."

2 Boston offices, 1 very legit, the other a bit shady. Google Galvin and Oppenheimer you will see what I mean. Firm has a decent SMA program and the MF wrap is not bad either. You also get access to a bit of syndicate, which never hurts. Name still has some cache and will open doors for you.

Same deal with the Miami based offices—one a good one, one not so hot.

Oppenheimer WAS associated with the mutual fund company until the late eighties (during the "throwaway period") when basically all of the big name firms (Lehman, etc) got rid of their retail businesses because the margins weren't sufficiently large compared to (then) institutional sales and ibanking. The firm existed as a sort of high end boutique, when it was acquired by CIBC, who then sold it a few years ago to Fahnstock (sp?). Fahnstock adopted the oppenheimer brand. Currently there are a small number of the "old" Oppenheimer branches (which are populated by the ibank sort of brokers), while the remainder are basically, as one other poster put it, one notch above a bucket shop (I also get the same vibe from Bear and Lehman). The firm is desperately trying to portray itself as a "national boutique" ala Bear or Lehman, but the delivery just isn't quite there yet.

The company is now something of an anachronism in that it is a small full service ibank with institutional sales, ibanking, research and retail. The firms revenues come about 65% from retail (once again, as I recall), so the environment is a little more blue collar than other firms, but the research is decent and the firm is making every effort to grow. With a $250 million market cap (as I recall), it is an excellent takeover candidate for other firms looking to expand their retail presence, but they may stay independent. In this environment, where all of the true ibanks are making ALL of their money from prop trading off their massive capital, its hard to imagine HOW they will pull it off, though...

Average production is a bit higher than most of the majors (so I was told by the branch manager) and the firm seems to be on a bit of a budget. Of the people that I know there, most were transactional guys - very few "Wealth Managers", but that's where the firm is heading. Cheaper furniture than almost any firm I've ever visited (only worse was Ryan Beck).

If you want to be a stock jock, I would try to get into Lehman or Bear, but if you can't - there aren't many other places like this...

Can't dispute a thing you said including the fact that a good stock jock or jockette can do very well at a Bear, Lehman, and/or Oppenheimer and still manage to please his/her clients (emphasis on the "GOOD" stock jock or jockette part).

Quite a few legacy original Oppenheimer brokers bailed for Bear after the Fahnestock buyout. To my knowledge, all are still at Bear and doing well (happy clients, clean U-4's).

The best thing I can say about Oppy is that they pick one day a year and donate all their commissions to charity. Other than that, its a far cry from Lehman or Bear Stearns and doesn’t deserve to be in the same sentence.
 

I think Bud needs to sell OPY to Royal Bank or someone else soon. Bear had no problems recruiting out of there a few years ago and despite OPY having some good (in my opinion) brokers right now, most would jump ship to a Bear or Lehman in a heartbeat if they didn't have to move.

That being said, OPY's not a bad place for a junior stock jock or jockette to get his or her start.

FD: I haven't heard of any OPY's on the block rumors lately and am not here starting any new ones.

Hey YMH,

Is it true that Royal Bank is looking to buy OPY?   I heard that somewhere, pass it on!

Your Friend,

KWS

If Royal Bank wants to expand its presence in the US as far as private client goes, OPY might be just the ticket! Dain's got a few good stock jockeys and jockettes and it would be a pretty good fit in my opinion.

FD: I don't trade OPY common shares (waaaay too thin for my tastes). I sometimes trade RY.

[quote=ymh_ymh_ymh]

If Royal Bank wants to expand its presence in the US as far as private client goes, OPY might be just the ticket! Dain's got a few good stock jockeys and jockettes and it would be a pretty good fit in my opinion.

FD: I don't trade OPY common shares (waaaay too thin for my tastes). I sometimes trade RY.

[/quote]

If OPY is thin we could do this.

Use my account, I'll buy a bunch for me and a bunch for you.

Then you buy for your clients and I'll sell to them.

Then I'll split the profit with you.

Wait, that might not be legal.  Never mind.