TradeKing and Zecco Merger Closes

Merger Creates Single Holding Company for Both Brokerages: TradeKing Group, Inc.

TradeKing and Zecco, two innovators in the online brokerage industry, announced today the merger of the two firms has officially closed. This merger creates a new, single holding company for both firms called TradeKing Group, Inc., and paves the way for the firms to begin detailed integration planning.
For the immediate future, both brokerage firms will continue to operate as they have been with separate brands, websites, trading platforms and service channels. While TradeKing and Zecco customers will not notice any immediate changes to their trading experience, eventually the best product features and customer service attributes of both firms will be combined to make up a unified new brand and trading experience operating under the familiar TradeKing name.

“The mission of the new TradeKing represents the values long championed by both companies: that is, to continually put our customers first, empower them to take control of their own financial futures through low, fair pricing and innovative tools, and create a place where every investor feels valued,” said Don Montanaro, CEO of TradeKing Group. “Our respective customer bases can rest assured they’ll experience nothing but business-as-usual as we drill into the specifics of the merged firm. This includes benefiting from even more features for the same low $4.95 per stock or options trade, plus 65 cents per options contract — today, tomorrow and after the integration is complete.”

While TradeKing has been selected as the name for the soon-to-be combined brokerage offering, the new TradeKing will be more than simply the sum of its two parts. To help communicate that, the company will be creating a new brand identity to represent the blending of TradeKing and Zecco. This will include a new logo and other design elements to match its new offerings and trading experience.
“Now that we have reached this important milestone, we are free to put the detailing of our integration planning into motion,” said Michael Raneri, Vice Chairman and Head of Corporate Development for TradeKing Group. “We are committed to taking a careful and methodical approach to the integration by thinking through every change and communicating clearly to ensure the end result is an even better and more satisfying trading experience for our customers.” In addition to Raneri’s role on the board of directors, he will focus corporate development efforts on driving growth through acquisitions, business development and partnerships for TradeKing, as well as incubating new lines of business and revenue streams.

TradeKing Group has a combined customer base of more than 500,000 accounts and several billion dollars in customer assets.