Banque Thalmann

Ladenburg Thalmann

Type	Public
Traded as	AMEX: LTS
Industry	Investment services
Founded	New York City, New York, United States (1876)
Headquarters	Miami, Florida, United States
Key people	Phillip Frost, Chairman Richard J. Lampen (CEO)
Products	Investment banking brokerage and advisory services asset management
Revenue	$651.1 million USD (FY 2012)
Number of employees	2,700 employees and advisors
Website	www.ladenburg.com

Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services, a NYSE MKT-listed company, is a diversified financial services company with two primary business lines: one is independent brokerage and advisory, and the other is investment banking and capital markets. More specifically, the company is engaged in investment banking, equity research, institutional sales and trading, independent brokerage and advisory services, asset management services and trust services through its principal subsidiaries, Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. Inc., Securities America, Investacorp, Inc., Triad Advisors, Inc., Ladenburg Thalmann Asset Management Inc. and Premier Trust, Inc. It is based in Miami, Florida.

Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services is part of the Russell 3000 Index. Its business model is that of a diversified financial services institution which pairs the recurring revenues of the independent brokerage and advisory businesses with the more volatile, but potentially highly lucrative, capital markets and investment banking business. The Company has over 2,700 financial advisors with approximately $75 billion in client assets.

Ernst Thalmann, an American banker, and Adolph Ladenburg, the scion of a German banking family, founded Ladenburg Thalmann in 1876. In 1879, Ernst Thalmann paid $13,550 (equivalent to $348,000 in 2016) for a seat on the New York Stock Exchange.

Ladenburg Thalmann quickly became one of the most influential private merchant banking firms, a major financial intermediary between America, Great Britain, and the European Continent. It played an important role in financing the growth of American industry—particularly America’s railroads, utilities, and emerging industries—through the early twentieth century and was among the few investment banks to prosper during the Great Depression. It has financed the merger of Mexican Central National Railroad of Mexico, the eletrification of Companhia Paulista de Estradas de Ferro in Brazil, led the syndicate for Port Authority of New York and New Jersey bonds and was the bank Albert Einstein chose to invest 75% of his Nobel Prize money.

In the early part of the 20th century, many notable businessmen joined Ladenburg Thalmann as partners, including Gerson von Bleichröder and Benjamin Seymour Guinness. During World War II, Ladenburg Thalmann bought Deutsche Marks on behalf of the British government.

Ladenburg Thalmann provided banking services for British Security Coordination (BSC) throughout the latter's existence.SOE in London was tasked by HM Treasury in July 1942 as the lead British agency for the acquisition of foreign currency, required in small denominations by members of the plethora of British covert wartime agencies, as well as the escape packs of Allied aircrew. SOE turned to BSC for help with this task; the very close links between BSC and the OSS meant that there was continual collaboration between the two agencies in support of this task. Some of the currencies acquired were seized from ships being searched in the Contraband Control Bases, such as Bermuda, Gibraltar, and Aden, or legitimately bought from legitimate passengers on those ships. Another source were the black markets in Tangiers, Beirut, Istanbul, and elsewhere, by the sale of commodities such as gold, platinum, diamonds, precious stones and Swiss watches. Most of these items, in short supply because of the Allied blockade and restrictions on movement, could be acquired by British government supply departments from within the British Empire using sterling as the purchasing currency.