Thomson Financial Revamps Sell-Side Efforts

NEW YORK--Thomson Financial has combined its Sales and Trading and Investment Banking strategic customer units (SCUs) into a new group called Global Banking and Brokerage in order to accelerate its penetration of the sell side, say officials.

Lou Eccleston, head of Sales and Trading, will lead the new group. Mark Lerch, head of Investment Banking, is leaving Thomson effective immediately. No other staff changes are planned, Eccleston says. The new group has about 500 staffers globally.

Global Banking and Brokerage is currently developing new products, including the investment banking version of Thomson One, the Sales and Trading suite that packages products from across Thomson Financial (Inside Market Data, Oct. 14, 2002). Banker One will provide access to multiple investment banking products as well as other Thomson services that appeal to investment bankers. Thomson will begin showing Banker One to customers early in the first quarter, Eccleston says.

The group is also preparing to launch a new data service called Thomson Deals, which is due out in February or March.

Sales and Trading’s products include the indications of interest service AuTex and the former ILX Workstation. Investment Banking’s offerings include SDC Platinum, which provides financial transactions data, and Thomson Analytics, a Web-based analytical tool.

Eccleston says there won’t be any changes in the products or the organization within the groups. "The driving force was to consolidate and leverage our efforts selling into the sell-side community," he says. "It was also to accelerate the integration of the different products into desktop products, which is also very relevant in the banking world."

He says he was chosen to lead the new group because of his efforts with Thomson One. "The integration of the product portfolio enhances the existing products as well as opens up new sources of revenue in the desktop world," he says. "It’s consistent with the Thomson One business strategy, which I’ve been carrying the flag on."

Thomson now has four SCUs: Corporate, headed by Kevin Marcus; Investment Management, led by Suresh Kuvan; Thomson Financial Research, headed by Bob Bulik; and Global Banking and Brokerage. Eccleston says Thomson won’t be making other changes to the SCUs in the foreseeable future.

Lerch headed the Investment Banking group since its creation in 1999. He joined Thomson in 1988 when it purchased the assets of Rand Communications, where he was a principal. He has also served as president of Securites Data Co., among other positions at Thomson.