Stifel Financial Corp. is an American multinational
independent investment bank
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 with ...
and
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 ...
company created under its present name in July 1983 and listed on the
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed c ...
on November 24, 1986. Its predecessor company was founded in 1890 as the Altheimer and Rawlings Investment Company and is headquartered in downtown
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...
.
Stifel offers securities-related financial services in the United States and Europe through several wholly owned subsidiaries. Its clients are served through Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated (Stifel Nicolaus) in the U.S., a full-service retail and institutional brokerage and
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 ...
firm, through Stifel Nicolaus Canada Inc. in Canada, and through Stifel Nicolaus Europe Limited (SNEL) in the United Kingdom and Europe. Its other subsidiaries include Thomas Weisel Partners LLC (TWP), Century Securities Associates, Inc. (CSA), an independent contractor
broker-dealer
In financial services, a broker-dealer is a natural person, company or other organization that engages in the business of trading securities for its own account or on behalf of its customers. Broker-dealers are at the heart of the securities and d ...
firm, and Stifel Bank & Trust, a retail and
commercial bank
A commercial bank is a financial institution which accepts deposits from the public and gives loans for the purposes of consumption and investment to make profit.
It can also refer to a bank, or a division of a large bank, which deals with cor ...
. Stifel Bank & Trust offers consumer and commercial lending. Stifel Trust Company, N.A. offers trust and related services.
Acquisition history
On December 1, 2005, Stifel Financial closed on the acquisition of the
Legg Mason Capital Markets business (LM Capital Markets) from
Citigroup Inc
Citigroup Inc. or Citi (Style (visual arts), stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services corporation headquartered in New York City. The company was formed by the merger of banking ...
. The LM Capital Markets business acquired included investment banking, equity and fixed income research, equity sales and trading, and taxable fixed income sales and trading (22 offices in the US and Europe and 500 associates). These assets gave the company substantial research and capital market capabilities and transformed the company from a regional firm to a national one.
In 2006, the company acquired the Private Client Group of Minneapolis-based Miller Johnson Steichen Kinnard, Inc. (MJSK) (7 offices and 50 financial advisors).
[
In 2007, the company completed the acquisition of Ryan Beck & Co. from BankAtlantic Bancorp (43 offices in 14 states and 1,100 associates). The acquisition significantly increased the company's presence in the East coast. The firm also opened several Private Client Group offices in the state of California and branched out across the entire West Coast. During the same year, the company completed the acquisition of First Service Financial Company, and its wholly owned subsidiary, FirstService Bank, a St. Louis-headquartered, Missouri chartered bank. As a result of the transaction, the company became a bank holding company and a financial holding company.][
In 2008, the company completed its $12 million acquisition of Butler Wick & Company, Inc. from United Community Financial Corp. Butler Wick, a Youngstown, Ohio-based provider of financial advisory services, had offices in Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York (23 offices in three states and 175 associates).][
In 2009, the company acquired 56 branches from the UBS Wealth Management Americas (UBS) branch network (56 offices in 24 states and 500 associates).][
In 2010, the company completed its acquisition of Thomas Weisel Partners Group, Inc and created an enterprise with one of the largest U.S. equity research platforms and expanded institution equity business both domestically and internationally.][
In 2011, the company announced an agreement to acquire Stone & Youngberg LLC, a financial firm specializing in municipal finance and fixed income securities.][
In 2012, the company and ]Keefe, Bruyette & Woods
Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc., ''a Stifel Company'', is an investment banking firm headquartered in New York City, specializing exclusively in the financial services sector. KBW's primary business lines include research, corporate finance, equi ...
(KBW) announced a strategic merger. During the same year, the company expanded its investment banking capabilities and restructuring advisory expertise by acquiring Miller Buckfire
Miller Buckfire & Co. is an investment banking firm that provides various advisory services, focused on corporate restructurings. In addition to its core restructuring business, the firm provides merger and acquisition advisory and valuation se ...
.
In 2014, the company acquired the London stockbroker Oriel Securities.
In June 2015, the company announced it would acquire Barclays
Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services.
Barclays traces ...
US wealth and investment management unit for an undisclosed fee.
In May 2015, the company acquired the debt capital markets and convertibles specialist ISM Capital LLP.
In June 2015, the company acquired the Birmingham, Alabama based investment bank, brokerage and wealth management firm Sterne Agee Group.
In January 2016, the company acquired the placement agent Eaton Partners LLC.
In March 2018, the company acquired Ziegler Wealth Management.
In November 2018, the group acquired German bank MainFirst Bank AG.
In 2019, the company acquired First Empire Holding Corp. and its subsidiaries, including First Empire Securities Inc.
In November 2021, the company acquired the Memphis, Tennessee based fixed income brokerage Vining Sparks.
Overview
, Stifel Financial Corp. employed over 7,500 associates in over 400 global locations.
* The CEO
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
is Ronald J. Kruszewski.
* Corporate headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri
* Capital markets headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland and London, England
;Investment Banking
*#1 U.S. equity underwriter for issuers with market caps <$500 million since 2005
*Extensive advisory and capital raising expertise across 15 industry focused groups
*Offering immense boutique investment banking solutions and products
*Leading position in investment banking focus on niche market of $500m - $5B
;Research
Stifel provides both equity and fixed income research. It is the largest provider of US equity research.
;Institutional Sales & Trading
;Global Wealth Management
*More than 2,000 Financial Advisors & 300 locations
*Over $3 billion in assets at Stifel Bank & Trust
Organization
Stifel Financial Corp. operates in three segments: Global Wealth Management, Institutional Group, and Other.
Major locations
*St. Louis
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
, Missouri, U.S., global headquarters
*Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
, Maryland, U.S., capital markets headquarters
*San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
, California, U.S.
*New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, New York, U.S.
*Washington D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...
, District of Columbia, U.S.
*London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, United Kingdom, European markets headquarters
Controversies
Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit
The Securities and Exchange Commission
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...
sued Stifel Nicolaus on August 10, 2011, claiming the firm duped five Wisconsin school districts into buying $200 million in "unsuitable" securities tied to collateralized debt obligation
A collateralized debt obligation (CDO) is a type of structured asset-backed security (ABS). Originally developed as instruments for the corporate debt markets, after 2002 CDOs became vehicles for refinancing mortgage-backed securities (MBS).Lepke ...
s. The investments, which the school districts had purchased in 2006 with $163 million in borrowed funds and $37 million of their own money, were "far more risky" than Stifel Nicolaus advertised to the school districts, the S.E.C. alleged, and the firm hid the risks “through a series of falsehoods and misrepresentations." The school districts' credit ratings were lowered and they lost their investments, which were intended to fund school employees' retirement benefits. Stifel Nicolaus said in a statement that it was “deeply disappointed by the misplaced action” and that it would “vigorously defend” its behavior in the transactions. The S.E.C. said the firm had claimed that the investments were so safe that it would take "15 Enrons" or some other unexpected catastrophe for the investments to fail, but the first increment of securities did badly and credit agencies issued a "negative watch" on part of the portfolio within days of its closing. On March 19, 2012, it was announced that a settlement had been reached with the school districts to jointly pursue a $200 million lawsuit against Royal Bank of Canada
Royal Bank of Canada (RBC; french: Banque royale du Canada) is a Canadian multinational financial services company and the largest bank in Canada by market capitalization. The bank serves over 17 million clients and has more than 89,000& ...
, alleging that they are liable for the original misrepresentation. Royal Bank of Canada had already settled with the Securities and Exchange Commission in September 2011 for $30.4 million. As of December 2013, Stifel was still pursuing RBC.
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 notab ...
* 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 corporate ...
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange
American companies established in 1890
Financial services companies established in 1890
Banks established in 1890
Companies based in St. Louis
Investment banks in the United States
Investment management companies of the United States
Banks based in Missouri
1890 establishments in Missouri