Cantor Fitzgerald, L.P. is an American
financial services
Financial services are the Service (economics), economic services provided by the finance industry, which encompasses a broad range of businesses that manage money, including credit unions, banks, credit-card companies, insurance companies, acco ...
firm that was founded in 1945. It specializes in institutional equity, fixed income sales and trading, and serving the middle market with
investment banking
Investment banking pertains to certain activities of a financial services company or a corporate division that consist in advisory-based financial transactions on behalf of individuals, corporations, and governments. Traditionally associated wit ...
services,
prime brokerage
Prime brokerage is the generic name for a bundled package of services offered by investment banks, wealth management firms, and securities dealers to hedge funds which need the ability to borrow securities and cash in order to be able to invest ...
, and
commercial real estate
Commercial property, also called commercial real estate, investment property or income property, is real estate (buildings or land) intended to generate a profit, either from capital gains or rental income. Commercial property includes office b ...
financing. It is also active in new businesses, including advisory and asset management services, gaming technology, and
e-commerce
E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the activity of electronically buying or selling of products on online services or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain manageme ...
. It has more than 5,000 institutional clients.
Cantor Fitzgerald is one of 24
primary dealer
A primary dealer is a firm that buys government securities directly from a government, with the intention of reselling them to others, thus acting as a market maker of government securities. The government may regulate the behaviour and number of ...
s that are authorized to trade US government securities with the
Federal Reserve Bank of New York
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York is one of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks of the United States. It is responsible for the Second District of the Federal Reserve System, which encompasses the State of New York, the 12 northern counties of New ...
.
Cantor Fitzgerald's 1,600 employees work in more than 30 locations, including financial centers in the
Americas
The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World.
Along with th ...
,
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
,
Asia-Pacific
Asia-Pacific (APAC) is the part of the world near the western Pacific Ocean. The Asia-Pacific region varies in area depending on context, but it generally includes East Asia, Russian Far East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and Pacific Isla ...
, and the
Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
. Together with its affiliates, Cantor Fitzgerald operates in more than 60 offices in 20 countries and has more than 12,500 employees.
In 2001, the firm's headquarters were destroyed in the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...
, killing every employee who reported to work that day.
Early history
Cantor Fitzgerald was formed in 1945 by
Bernard Gerald Cantor and John Fitzgerald as an investment bank and brokerage business. It later became known for its computer-based bond brokerage, for the quality of its institutional distribution business model, and for being the market's premier dealer of government securities.
In 1965, Cantor Fitzgerald began "large block" sales/trading of equities for institutional customers. It became the world's first electronic marketplace for US government securities in 1972 and in 1983, it was the first to offer worldwide screen brokerage services in US government securities.
In 1991,
Howard Lutnick
Howard William Lutnick (born July 14, 1961) is an American billionaire businessman, who succeeded Bernard Gerald Cantor as the head of Cantor Fitzgerald. Lutnick is the chairman and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald and BGC Partners. After losing 658 em ...
was named president and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald; he became chairman of Cantor Fitzgerald, L.P., in 1996.
9/11 attacks
![World Trade Center, New York City - aerial view (March 2001)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/World_Trade_Center%2C_New_York_City_-_aerial_view_%28March_2001%29.jpg)
Cantor Fitzgerald's corporate headquarters and New York City office, on the 101st to the 105th floors of
One World Trade Center
One World Trade Center (also known as One World Trade, One WTC, and formerly Freedom Tower) is the main building of the rebuilt World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Designed by David Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Mer ...
in
Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan (also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York) is the southernmost part of Manhattan, the central borough for business, culture, and government in New York City, which is the most populated city in the United States with ...
(2 to 6 floors above the impact zone of
American Airlines Flight 11
American Airlines Flight 11 was a domestic passenger flight that was hijacked by five al-Qaeda terrorists on September 11, 2001 as part of the September 11 attacks. Lead hijacker Mohamed Atta deliberately crashed the plane into the North Towe ...
), were destroyed during the
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...
. At 8:46:46 a.m., six seconds after the tower was struck by the plane, a
Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, H ...
server issued an alert saying that its trading system had gone offline because it was unable to connect with the server. Since all stairwells leading past the impact zone were destroyed by the initial crash or blocked with smoke, fire, or debris, every employee who reported for work that morning was killed in the attacks; 658 of its 960 New York employees were killed or missing, or 68.5% of its total workforce, which was considerably more than any of the other
World Trade Center tenants, the
New York City Police Department
The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...
, the
Port Authority Police Department
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department, or Port Authority Police Department (PAPD), is a law enforcement agency in New York and New Jersey, the duties of which are to protect and to enforce state and city laws at all t ...
, the
New York City Fire Department
The New York City Fire Department, officially the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY), is an American department of the government of New York City that provides fire protection services, technical rescue/special operations services, ...
, or the
Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to:
Current departments of defence
* Department of Defence (Australia)
* Department of National Defence (Canada)
* Department of Defence (Ireland)
* Department of National Defense (Philipp ...
. 46 contractors, food service workers, and visitors who were in the Cantor Fitzgerald offices at the time were also killed. CEO Howard Lutnick himself was not present because he was taking his son to his first day of kindergarten, but his younger brother, Gary, was among those killed. Lutnick vowed to keep the company alive, and the company was able to bring its trading markets back online within a week.
On September 19, Cantor Fitzgerald made a pledge to distribute 25% of the firm's profits for the next five years, and it committed to paying for ten years of health care for the benefit of the families of its 658 former Cantor Fitzgerald, eSpeed, and TradeSpark employees (profits that would otherwise have been distributed to the Cantor Fitzgerald
partners). In 2006, the company had completed its promise, having paid a total of $180 million (and an additional $17 million from a relief fund run by Lutnick's sister, Edie).
Until the attacks, Cantor had handled about a quarter of the daily transactions in the multi-trillion dollar
treasury security
United States Treasury securities, also called Treasuries or Treasurys, are government debt instruments issued by the United States Department of the Treasury to finance government spending as an alternative to taxation. Since 2012, U.S. gov ...
market. Cantor Fitzgerald has since rebuilt its
infrastructure
Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and priv ...
, partly by the efforts of its London office, and it now has its headquarters in
Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Buildin ...
. The company's effort to regain its footing was the subject of
Tom Barbash
Tom Barbash is an American writer of fiction and nonfiction, as well as an educator and critic. He is the author of the novel ''The Last Good Chance,'' a collection of short stories ''Stay Up With Me,'' and the bestselling nonfiction work ''On To ...
's 2003 book ''On Top of the World: Cantor Fitzgerald, Howard Lutnick, and 9/11: A Story of Loss and Renewal'' as well as a 2012 documentary, ''Out of the Clear Blue Sky''.
On September 2, 2004, Cantor and other organizations filed a
civil lawsuit
-
A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...
against
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
for allegedly providing money to the hijackers and
Al Qaeda
Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military targets in various countr ...
. It was later joined in the suit by the
Port Authority of New York
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, PANYNJ; stylized, in logo since 2020, as Port Authority NY NJ, is a joint venture between the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, established in 1921 through an interstate compact authorized ...
. Most of the claims against Saudi Arabia were dismissed on January 18, 2005.
In December 2013, Cantor Fitzgerald settled its lawsuit against
American Airlines
American Airlines is a major airlines of the United States, major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the world when measured ...
for $135 million. Cantor Fitzgerald had been suing for loss of property and interruption of business by alleging the airline to have been negligent by allowing hijackers to board
Flight 11.
Recent history
In 2003, the firm launched its fixed income sales and trading group.
In 2006, the
Federal Reserve
The Federal Reserve System (often shortened to the Federal Reserve, or simply the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States of America. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, after a ...
added Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. to its list of
primary dealers
A primary dealer is a firm that buys government securities directly from a government, with the intention of reselling them to others, thus acting as a market maker of government securities. The government may regulate the behaviour and number of ...
.
In 2009, the firm launched Cantor Prime Services, a provider of multi-asset, perimeter brokerage prime brokerage platforms to exploit its clearing, financing, and execution capabilities.
Cantor Fitzgerald began building its
real estate
Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...
business with the launch of CCRE in 2010.
In 2011, Cantor's affiliate,
BGC Partners
BGC Partners is an American global financial services company based in New York City and London. Originally formed as part of the larger Cantor Fitzgerald organization, BGC Partners became its own entity in 2004.
History
1945–1990
In 1945, ...
, expanded into commercial real estate services by its purchase of
Newmark Knight Frank
Newmark Group Inc. is a commercial real estate advisory and services firm headquartered in New York City. It operates as ''Newmark'', and is listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol "NMRK".
The company’s services include Capi ...
and the assets of
Grubb & Ellis
Newmark Group Inc. is a commercial real estate advisory and services firm headquartered in New York City. It operates as ''Newmark'', and is listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol "NMRK".
The company’s services include Capi ...
, to form
Newmark Grubb Knight Frank.
On December 5, 2014, two Cantor Fitzgerald analysts were said to be in the top 25 analysts on
TipRanks.
Cantor Fitzgerald has a prolific
special-purpose acquisition company underwriting practice, having led all banks in SPAC underwriting activity in both 2018 and 2019.
Philanthropy
Edie wrote ''An Unbroken Bond: The Untold Story of How the 658 Cantor Fitzgerald Families Faced the Tragedy of 9/11 and Beyond''. All proceeds from the sale of the book benefit the Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund and the charities that it assists.
The Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund provided $10 million to families affected by
Hurricane Sandy
Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as ''Superstorm Sandy'') was an extremely destructive and strong Atlantic hurricane, as well as the largest Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by diameter, with tropical-storm-force winds spann ...
. Howard Lutnick and the Relief Fund "adopted" 19 elementary schools in impacted areas by distributing $1,000 prepaid
debit card
A debit card, also known as a check card or bank card is a payment card that can be used in place of cash to make purchases. The term '' plastic card'' includes the above and as an identity document. These are similar to a credit card, but u ...
s to each family from the schools. A total of $10 million in funds was given to families affected by the storm.
Two days after the
2013 Moore tornado struck
Moore, Oklahoma
Moore is a city in Cleveland County, Oklahoma, United States, and is part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. The population was 62,793 at the 2020 census, making Moore the seventh-largest city in the state of Oklahoma.
Located between Oklah ...
, killing 24 people and injuring hundreds, Lutnick pledged to donate $2 million to families affected by the tornado. The donation was given out in the form of $1,000 debit cards given out to families.
Each year, on September 11, Cantor Fitzgerald and its affiliate,
BGC Partners
BGC Partners is an American global financial services company based in New York City and London. Originally formed as part of the larger Cantor Fitzgerald organization, BGC Partners became its own entity in 2004.
History
1945–1990
In 1945, ...
, donate 100% of their revenue to charitable causes on their
annual Charity Day, which was originally established to raise money to assist the families of the Cantor employees who died in the World Trade Center attacks. Since its inception, Charity Day has raised $110 million for charities globally.
Subsidiaries and affiliates
The firm has many subsidiaries and affiliates, including:
*
BGC Partners
BGC Partners is an American global financial services company based in New York City and London. Originally formed as part of the larger Cantor Fitzgerald organization, BGC Partners became its own entity in 2004.
History
1945–1990
In 1945, ...
, named after fixed income trading innovator and founder
B. Gerald Cantor
Bernard Gerald Cantor (December 17, 1916 – July 3, 1996) was the founder and chairman of securities firm Cantor Fitzgerald.
Career
Cantor's parents were Rose (née Delson) and Julius Cantor, Jewish immigrants from Belarus. Born in the Bronx ...
, is a global brokerage company that services the wholesale financial markets and commercial real estate marketplace in New York, London, and other financial centers. BGC Partners includes
Newmark Grubb Knight Frank, the fourth-largest real estate service provider in the US.
*Cantor Ventures is the corporate venture capital and enterprise development arm of the company. Led by
Henrique De Castro, the group's current investments include
delivery.com
delivery.com LLC is an American online platform and suite of mobile apps that enables users to order from local restaurants and stores for on-demand delivery. The company currently has more than one million users and an online marketplace of mor ...
,
Ritani
Ritani is a fine jewelry company specializing in engagement rings and bridal jewelry. The company is based in New York. Initially, a wholesale jewelry brand, customers are able to design a custom engagement ring online.
History
In 2012, chie ...
, TopLine Game Labs, AdFin, Lucera,
NewsWhip
NewsWhip is a social media engagement tracking firm created by Paul Quigley and Andrew Mullaney in 2011. The company tracks content by amount and location of user engagement and also tracks audience interests and changes in interests over time.
_ ...
, and
XIX Entertainment
XIX Entertainment is an entertainment content and intellectual rights organisation based in North America and Europe. The company, which has been valued at $100 million
was set up by Simon Fuller in 2010 to commercially develop world class individ ...
.
*
Hollywood Stock Exchange
The Hollywood Stock Exchange, or HSX, is a web-based, multiplayer game in which players use simulated money to buy and sell "shares" of actors, directors, upcoming films, and film-related options. The game uses Virtual Specialist technology invente ...
, founded in 1996, is the world's virtual entertainment stock market.
*TopLine Game Labs is a technology company to create short-duration fantasy sports and entertainment-based social gaming. Headquartered in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
, TopLine Game Labs was, in 2013, building a platform-agnostic architecture to power game experiences for sports.
Senior management
List of chairmen
#
Bernie Cantor (1945–1996)
#
Howard Lutnick
Howard William Lutnick (born July 14, 1961) is an American billionaire businessman, who succeeded Bernard Gerald Cantor as the head of Cantor Fitzgerald. Lutnick is the chairman and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald and BGC Partners. After losing 658 em ...
(1996–present)
List of CEOs
#
Bernie Cantor (1945–1991)
#
Howard Lutnick
Howard William Lutnick (born July 14, 1961) is an American billionaire businessman, who succeeded Bernard Gerald Cantor as the head of Cantor Fitzgerald. Lutnick is the chairman and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald and BGC Partners. After losing 658 em ...
(1991–present)
See also
*
List of investment banks
The following list catalogues the largest, most profitable, and otherwise notable investment banks. This list of investment banks notes full-service banks, financial conglomerates, independent investment banks, private placement firms and nota ...
*
Boutique investment bank
A boutique investment bank is a investment bank that specializes in at least one aspect of investment banking, generally corporate finance, although some banks strengths are retail in nature, such as Charles Schwab. Of those involved in corpora ...
References
External links
*
Cantor Families MemorialCantor Relief FundOn Top of the World: Cantor Fitzgerald, Howard Lutnick, and 9/11: A Story of Loss and Renewal ''The New York Times'', September 17, 2002
{{authority control
Banks based in New York City
Primary dealers
American companies established in 1945
Banks established in 1945
Investment banks in the United States
Financial derivative trading companies
September 11 attacks
1945 establishments in New York (state)