“Customers come and go; we, however, are in the relationship business,” says Jim Citro, vice president of investments and branch manager. “We believe that the clients’ success always precedes the success of the company or any individual within the company. That builds long-term clients and long-term success.”
The Stifel Nicolaus office at 3825 Maine was formed in October 2007 by five brokers from the former A.G. Edwards Office, which closed when the company was acquired by Wachovia Securities.
“The investment industry had been—and continues to be—consolidating, and the new focus is often in New York City,” explains Citro. “We were looking for a company with Midwestern values, so maintaining a firm headquartered in St. Louis was important to us.
“This firm’s entrepreneurial spirit allows local branches a lot of latitude in how they care for their clients,” he continues. “There is no incentive to push one product over another and we do not offer a proprietary product, so we can suggest what we feel is best for each client.”
Established in 1890 and headquartered in St. Louis, Stifel Nicolaus provides securities brokerage, investment banking, trading, investment advisory and related financial services to individual investors, professional money managers, businesses and municipalities. Its “Of Choice” strategy is to become the Firm of Choice for employees, the Advisor of Choice for clients and the Investment of Choice for shareholders.
The strategy is working. Stifel Nicolaus was one of the top 100 fastest growing companies in the world last year, and “our stock performance is incredible compared to others,” says Citro. With more than 2,000 brokers, the company has had record profits through one of the worst Bear Markets in history.
“The culture of a company permeates everything,” Citro says. “Even with its recent growth, it still has a small-company feel. The flat organization chart with virtually no middle management allows us to develop great dialogue with the national office. These close personal relationships are continued with our clients. What we offer is what clients want.”
Stifel Nicolaus has been repeatedly recognized for its research division. It was recently named runner up in the Financial Times/StarMine World’s Top Analysts Survey and was also cited by the Financial Times as the best house for stock picking.
“With the acquisition of Legg Mason Capital Markets in 2005, Stifel became the second largest research division in the industry. Only JP Morgan is bigger,” says Citro, noting that Stifel CEO Ron Kurszewski is known for recognizing and taking advantage of opportunities. “That acquisition has given us a big advantage.”
Stifel Nicolaus philosophy demonstrates that if you take care of the client, those actions will take care of the broker, who will take care of management, which will take care of the shareholders.
“When you change that order in any way, things start to go awry,” says Citro.
For more information about investing opportunities at Stifel Nicolaus, contact Citro at 217-228-0053 or visit www.stifel.com.
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