How do E*TRADE’s offerings
benefit the financial community?
We have significant interaction with the
financial markets. Whether initiated by a
customer, executed through our market maker or
traded by our institutional equity desks, over 5
percent of all trades executed in the U.S. touch
E*TRADE in one way or another. Beyond that, our
global balance sheet interacts on multiple
levels with the domestic and international
markets, from investing our customers’ cash to
generating their mortgage, HELOC and credit card
balances.
For companies, in addition to the benefit of
transactions in their stocks, we believe that
the way we are able to leverage our technology,
operations and service platforms attracts a
broader range of investing consumers, many of
whom are largely ignored by the more traditional
providers.
And beyond the transactions, we benefit the
entire market by paying close attention to
educating the investing consumer, particularly
those at the earlier stages of his or her
investing life. Creating an educated,
value-conscious consumer who is not afraid of
the markets and has the confidence to make his
or her own financial decisions can only help
everyone whose stocks are in the public markets.
How do you see E*TRADE’s
business positioned today from the perspective of
retail investors?
E*TRADE today is focused on providing global
retail investors with value-added investing,
trading, banking and lending products and
services, and leveraging that engagement with
our retail customers in our institutional
business. As E*TRADE has grown, we have focused
on expanding our offerings both domestically and
internationally, emphasizing sturdier revenue
vehicles, such as net interest spread, as a way
of lessening our dependence on often volatile
customer trading activity.
How do changing market and
economic forces impact E*TRADE’s growth and business
development strategy?
Years of creating value-added diversified
financial services for our customers—and
understanding how they really function in the
markets—have afforded us the experience and
insight for successful positioning in a variety
of economic environments.
When the markets are growing, we see increased
trading activity and the benefits of increased
trading commissions and market-making
activities.
When the markets are contracting, we see
investors move their money into our cash
management products like bank deposits and CDs,
which they see as good investment vehicles as
opposed to simply a place to park while
evaluating the markets.
Our continuing strategy is to develop robust and
diverse financial products that will deliver
value to our customers and deepen our customer
relationships both domestically and
internationally.
What significance does
being part of E*TRADE’s world have in the eyes,
hearts and minds of the investing public and of the
Street?
From the company’s inception in 1982, E*TRADE’s
vision has been to make the financial markets
accessible to all investors.
Always striving to be a champion for our
customers, we have introduced many products that
more traditional firms had never considered
offering, either because of constraints in their
cost infrastructure or because it was not in
their interest to do so. And we have taken that
vision and exported it on a global basis. As the
global retail investor has learned about our
products and services over time, all of us have
benefited from a stronger, more diverse and more
vital business.
We hope our investors will always think of us as
a bit of a rebel in the financial services
industry, not afraid to challenge tradition in
order to deliver more value to our customers.