Part-time JC List poster 'Icechute' has something in common with Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson has a portrait of himself hanging in his home, Monticello, while Icechute has a nickel with Jefferson's likeness in his pocket....

Not that Brueckner or Pershing are bad but should the CEO of a modern middleman financial company be mentioned as having anything in common with one of our founding fathers and the author of the declaration of independence?

Irrelevant comparison aside I am very happy to see this JC company has been solid!

Jersey City-based Pershing soldiered on while others failed

by Joseph R. Perone/The Star-Ledger
Tuesday August 11, 2009

Richard A. Brueckner, chairman and CEO of Pershing in Jersey City.

Richard Brueckner has something in common with Thomas Jefferson: an appreciation for Madeira wine.

Jefferson, the nation's third president, enjoyed the fortified wine from the Portuguese island of Madeira because it was stable enough to survive a rigorous ocean voyage.

Brueckner, chief executive of Pershing LLC, has an 1834 bottle of Madeira in his collection of vintage wines.

Brueckner knows something about stability. His Jersey City firm, a unit of Bank of New York Mellon, was sturdy enough to be a survivor in the securities clearing business at a time when other players failed.

Now, he is faced with the challenge of offering stability and new services to a chastened Wall Street as it claws its way back from the credit crisis.

Pershing, which turned 70 years old this year, provides a trading platform, or system, to complete securities trades for major broker-dealers and investment advisers.

It also acts as custodian for customer accounts of cash, stock, bonds and mutual funds. The firm has 1,900 people in Jersey City and 400 workers at a tech center in Florham Park.

Brueckner, 60, of Bedminster, was born in Newark, grew up in Florham Park and graduated from Hanover Park High School. He started on Wall Street as a runner, carrying stock certificates between firms.

A former executive with Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, he leads the board of governors for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, formerly known as the NASD, which regulates securities firms. He spoke to Your Business about the changes on Wall Street.

CAPABILITIES AND PLATFORMS

Q. Firms such as Pershing work behind the scenes. How would you characterize what you do?

A. We provide strength and stability... custody service to make sure the assets of investors are safeguarded when they are in our care. We enable investment professionals to have highly personalized services for their investor clientele and give them capabilities way beyond what they have on their own.

We are bringing together three platforms (trading systems) into one new technology platform with a lot of tools in one place. It helps improve the productivity of advisers by enabling them to mine data on our platform very efficiently and understand their clients' needs so they can serve them better.


Q. How has Pershing changed over the years?

A. The firm was founded in 1939 by four partners, one of whom was the son of (World War I hero) Gen. John "Black Jack" Pershing. During the '80s and '90s, we acquired other firms and added asset gathering products and services, retirement accounts, mutual funds and fixed-income trading.

Q. With the demise of Bear Stearns last year, there was an opportunity for competitors like Pershing. How have you capitalized on it?

A. We were viewed by the marketplace, generally, as a safe haven for customers' assets. So we benefited in two ways: We received significant amounts of cash and assets flowing into Pershing. We also attracted new relationships as a result of the stress some of the other financial institutions were under.

A QUESTION LOOMS

Q. How will Wall Street change under the new regulations proposed by the White House?

A. The banking, commodities and securities regulators have relatively broad powers to regulate well enough to accomplish the goals of the Obama administration. There are obviously some gaps in the mortgage brokerage business, which became apparent in the meltdown we had.

The question we have to ask is whether it is more sensible to create a whole new agency to regulate consumer financial products or is it more sensible to charge the existing regulators who have most of these powers already to extend their jurisdiction into areas where they are not now looking and to give them the resources that are necessary for them to do the job that needs to be done. I would argue the latter is a more sensible approach. Creating a new federal agency will be costly.

Q. Investors are buying stocks and mutual funds focused on emerging markets again. How are you helping them diversify overseas?

A. Some of those markets have been more robust than the U.S. markets from time to time. We execute transactions in 69 markets around the world. So, if you want to buy securities in the United Kingdom, Singapore or Hong Kong, traded in a different market, we can facilitate that for you. Some customers want to diversify across different currencies, and we are finding interest in that.

Joseph R. Perone may be reached at jperone@starledger.com or (973)392-4262.