Susquehanna International Group

The Susquehanna International Group of Companies (SIG) is a privately held global investment, trading and technology firm servicing securities markets worldwide. SIG is comprised of a number of affiliated entities specializing in trading and proprietary investments in equities, fixed income, energy, commodity, index and derivative products, private equity and venture capital, research, customer trading, as well as more recent efforts in investment banking and institutional sales. Susquehanna is probably best known for expertise in derivatives pricing and trading, especially equity options.

Global Offices

SIG's headquarters office is in Bala Cynwyd, a western suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. The firm employs more than 1,500 people in offices across North America (New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Boston), Australia (Sydney), Europe (Dublin), and China (Shanghai, Beijing). SIG is one of the largest employers in Lower Merion township. [http://www.lowermerion.org/Index.aspx?page=570]

Founders

SIG was founded in 1987 by five individuals: Jeff Yass, Arthur Dantchik, Steve Bloom, Eric Brooks, Andrew Frost and Joel Greenberg. The five original partners remain principal owners of the business. Yass and Dantchik are actively involved in the firm's trading strategies on a daily basis. Frost supervises private equity investments. [http://www.sig-china.com/OurTeam.asp?Lang=en&id=6]

Poker

Poker pervades the culture of SIG. The founders and senior traders believe that poker teaches lessons on risk taking that are applicable to trading in financial markets. SIG hosts an internal poker tournament annually and has even used poker as a recruiting tool. [http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/704948/poker_tests_for_job_recruits_trading_firm_hosts_a_poker/index.html] The company employs Bill Chen, a World Series of Poker star, in its quantitative trading group.

Recruiting

While many peer trading and investment banking firms favor MBA graduates, SIG tends to hire mostly undergraduates and, from quantitative disciplines, PhDs. SIG interviews and recruits traders from the campuses of a number of private colleges, including University of Pennsylvania, CalTech, MIT, Cornell, University of Chicago, and Princeton. [http://www.sig.com/careers/campusApplicants/calendar.html] SIG also participates in a co-op program with Drexel and St. Joseph's University.

External References

* [http://www.sig.com/index.html SIG corporate site]

* [http://www.sig-china.com/ SIG China Venture Capital]

* [http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/704948/poker_tests_for_job_recruits_trading_firm_hosts_a_poker/index.html Trading Firm Hosts a Poker Tournament to Fill Odds Jobs, Philadelphia Inquirer, October 24, 2006]