D. A. Davidson & Co.

D.A. Davidson & Co. is an employee-owned broker-dealer based in Great Falls, Montana, United States.[1] The company offers "integrated brokerage, capital markets, money management, trust and wealth management services" and is part of a larger, diversified financial services company called D.A. Davidson Companies. www.davidsoncompanies.com.

Besides working with individual investors, D.A. Davidson has a robust capital markets function that includes both equity and fixed income capital markets groups. The equity side works with clients across the U.S. and in other countries, and offers investment banking, institutional research, sales and trading, corporate services, and brokered CD underwriting, along with other capital markets services.[2]

D.A. Davidson's fixed income capital markets group offers fixed public finance banking services in a wide range of specialties, along with fixed income sales and trading, brokered CD underwriting, and adviser services.[2]

D.A. Davidson Companies, the parent company, has over 1,300 employees who work from offices in 23 states as of April 2015.[3] According to 2014 D.A. Davidson Companies annual report, the parent company held $45.2 billion in client assets under management and administration, and had $348.7 million in 2014 fiscal year net revenues as of Sept. 30, 2014.[2]

Jim Kerr has been President and CEO of D.A. Davidson Companies since January 2015. The company's Executive Chairman is Bill Johnstone.[4]

History

The company started in 1935 when David Adams Davidson joined E.J. Gibson Inc. The family would later buy all of the stock of the firm and rename it D.A. Davidson & Co. David's son, Ian, joined the firm as its third employee in 1958, after graduating from the University of California-Berkeley with a master's thesis that outlined how to build a successful securities firm away from Wall Street. He used his thesis as a roadmap for later growth of the company.

Ian B. Davidson was named D.A. Davidson President in 1968 and then was named Chairman and CEO in 1970 after his father's death.[5] In 1975, Davidson bought Financial Aims Corp., a financial planning firm. This acquisition would start the company's growth into the present day. In 1986, the company formed a new holding company - then called DADCO - as the parent company of D.A. Davidson and Financial Aims. The formation of the parent company set the stage for another acquisition, of Trust Corporation of Montana, which was later renamed D.A. Davidson Trust Company.[3]

Today, D.A. Davidson remains based in Great Falls, Montana, where, together with the other firms that comprise D.A. Davidson Companies, it is one of the largest companies based in that city.[6]

Breach

In 2007, D.A. Davidson Companies (then known as Davidson Companies) was the victim of a data breach compromising 192,000 clients' personal information, including names, customer account and social security numbers, addresses and dates of birth.[7] The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) fined the company $375,000 for failure to protect confidential customer information.[8] D.A. Davidson Companies immediately set up a call center to assist clients with questions and also to help clients sign up for free credit monitoring services for one year.[9]

References

  1. D.A. Davidson Companies 2014 Annual Report
  2. 1 2 3 http://www.davidsoncompanies.com/dc/annual-report/mobile/index.html
  3. 1 2 D.A. Davidson Companies website: www.davidsoncompanies.com
  4. http://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/money/2015/02/01/jim-kerr-da-davidsons-fifth-ceo/22683197/
  5. The Lengthening Shadow,the story of D.A. Davidson & Co. and the Davidson Companies by William G. Preston.
  6. http://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/news/local/2015/04/16/four-thriving-companies-offer-high-paying-jobs-key-leaders-great-falls/25825549/
  7. Manning, Jeff (2010-04-13). "D.A. Davidson fined over computer security after data breach". The Oregonian. Retrieved 2013-07-26.
  8. "FINRA Fines D.A. Davidson & Co. $375,000 for Failure to Protect Confidential Customer Information". FINRA. Retrieved 2013-07-26.
  9. Laurenzo, Nikki (2009-10-27). "Suspected Davidson hackers in court". KXLH Billings, Montana. Retrieved 2013-07-26.

External links

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