ITG revealed 98% of its clients who paused activity following the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) dark pools fine have now resumed trading with the agency broker.
The company’s first quarter earnings call was held with chief executive officer, Frank Troise and chief financial officer Steve Vigliotti, who both explained its top 100 global accounts have returned to the business.
Vigliotti said: “Looking at the results of the first quarter, it is clear that we are making progress and restoring our business to pre-SEC settlement levels.
“The return to profitability on an adjusted basis in the first quarter in an active market environment more than 98% of the clients, who paused after the SEC settlement, have resumed trading with ITG at various levels of engagement.”
In August last year, ITG agreed to pay $20.3 million for violations involving its dark pool and an alleged “secret trading desk” which “misused client information.”
The fine was the biggest imposed by the SEC at the time, and director of enforcement at the regulator, Andrew Ceresney, said at the time “the conduct here was egregious… the abuse of confidential information is significant.”
There is still more to be done, however, as Vigliotti explained the first quarter drops in revenues “reflected the lingering impact of drop-off in trading activity by the US based clients after the SEC settlement.”
ITG’s CEO Frank Troise claimed, “98% of the clients are past the SEC settlement.”
Troise said the company need to “earn back their business” and “work through account by account.”
He concluded: “We are focused as a management team on accelerating this recovery.”
Click here for more on ITG's first quarter results.