Velocity Clearing and Raymond James Announce Prime Brokerage Services Referral Agreement

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Velocity Clearing LLC, a global financial services technology company, today announced it has entered into a Prime Brokerage services referral agreement with Raymond James Financial (NYSE: RJF), a leading diversified financial services company.

The agreement allows for Raymond James institutional sales and sales traders to introduce Velocity Prime Brokerage Services to their institutional client base of hedge funds and other professional fund managers. Velocity’s prime brokerage offering includes core custody, clearance & settlement, financing and securities lending that can complement the premier equity research, analyst access and corporate access offered by Raymond James.

“Velocity’s Prime Brokerage offering is a meaningful value-add option for our institutional client partnerships,” said David De Luca, Global Head of Equities for Raymond James. “We are impressed with Velocity’s differentiated and boutique client service model, its access to multiple balance sheets and product mix and the firm’s deep expertise in securities lending.”

Brian Schaeffer, president of Velocity Clearing, said, “Velocity Clearing is delighted to be a proud partner of Raymond James. Our agreement allows institutional investors to custody assets directly with Velocity, or on an introduced basis with other clearing firms we partner with. Our management team of industry veterans has deep experience in Prime Brokerage coupled with consulting expertise geared towards private fund managers. Our focus will be on providing high quality, high touch service to institutional clients. The team and technology that Robert Kalaf, COO & Head of Prime Services, has built will be a differentiator in the PB marketplace.”

About Velocity Clearing, LLC

Velocity Clearing is a self-clearing broker/dealer serving correspondents, Prime Brokerage clients, active retail traders, emerging hedge funds and other market participants. The firm began in 2003 providing locates on hard-to-borrow securities, and now offers institutions and sophisticated traders a full, tech-enabled ecosystem for securities locates, borrowing, executing, clearing, custody and financing. Over the past few years, Velocity expanded its suite of services to include portfolio margin and execution and clearing for options, tied together with a seamless user experience, proven risk management, and a veteran team of traders and technologists. With a growing team in multiple U.S. and overseas locations, Velocity has the right combination of resources and people to service clients around the globe on a 24x6 basis. Velocity Clearing is a member of FINRA and SIPC.

About Raymond James Financial, Inc.

Raymond James Financial, Inc. (NYSE: RJF) is a leading diversified financial services company providing private client group, capital markets, asset management, banking and other services to individuals, corporations and municipalities. The company has approximately 8,700 financial advisors. Total client assets are $1.32 trillion. Public since 1983, the firm is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol RJF. Additional information is available at www.raymondjames.com.