The clients consist of private individuals who wish to purchase securities for themselves. Again, the investment bank receives a commission for the transactions conducted for their clients. PCS is discussed in another section. The trading professionals are responsible for making markets in certain securities, obtaining securities to facilitate the clients' trades and for providing liquidity within the market. Traders often maintain inventory positions overnight and are responsible for the profit and loss associated with holding the inventory.
Equity derivatives is a catchall phrase for a number of equity-related products.
This division can also develop portfolio hedges, aid the asset allocation process, and create synthetic equity instruments using other financial products. The sales and trading responsibilities are similar to the equities section. In each discipline, the degree of the professional's specialization varies across different firms. For instance, some firms may adopt the fixed income generalist approach where the salesperson sells all product types, from corporate bonds to mortgages. Other firms will have specialists servicing clients for only mortgages or corporate bonds.