Don Montanaro, the newly appointed President of Firstrade, has said that the sizzling hot AI chat technologies will certainly change the trader and investor user experience, but the reality of exactly how this will play out is yet to be determined.
“I find that the uncertainty is as thrilling as when a painter looks upon a blank canvas,” he said.
Montanaro said he is excited to see what 2024 and beyond has in store for the retail trading space.
“I’m looking forward to collaborating across borders with teammates, business partners and clients to achieve great outcomes for Firstrade,” he said.
Montanaro told Traders Magazine that Firstrade, an online brokerage firm nearing its 40th anniversary, is already gaining great efficiency in the “back of the house” with AI deployments across Compliance and Operations. “Next will be Customer Service,” he said.
“We are bold but careful at the same time. We’re diligently avoiding the bleeding edge, where client data could be at risk, and, importantly, we really take care to respect the intellectual property rights of our partners as well. We are energized, moving fast but in a thoughtful way,” he commented.
Montanaro was appointed President of Firstrade on January 11. He has over 30 years of leadership experience, serving at the forefront of the retail trading industry with a background including strategic planning and execution, product, marketing and customer service leadership, risk management, and compliance with legal and regulatory requirements in brokerage and more broadly in the fintech sector.
In 1997, he founded SURETRADE, a ground-breaking subsidiary of Quick & Reilly, which was acquired by Fleet Financial and later Bank of America.
Among other innovations, SURETRADE was the first brokerage firm to answer client questions via chat channels, and beginning in 1998 was the first to provide AI-generated email answers to its clients.
Montanaro led SURETRADE’s growth into one of the largest global online retail brokerage firms in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
In 2005, he founded TradeKing, driving more innovation in the retail trading industry. TradeKing was the first brokerage firm deploying social networking technologies to connect with clients, wherein Montanaro was the first CEO of any financial services firm to interact directly and publicly with his clients and others in real time. Montanaro charted the company’s business course, overseeing TradeKing through tremendous growth up through its successful sale to Ally Financial in 2016.
Commenting on his appointment, John Liu, CEO of Firstrade, said: “Don is the special combination of a visionary who knows how to get things done.”
He has led multiple organizations through rapid growth, embracing new technologies and successfully adapting them to push the trader and investor experience to new frontiers, Liu added.
“A proven leader who knows how to craft a combined product and service offering, Don has consistently achieved success with a passion for customer service and dedication to building healthy, profitable businesses that are fun to work for and a pleasure to do business with,” he added.
In his new role, Montanaro hopes to continue and extend Firstrade’s nearly 40-year legacy of bringing great value, product and service to clients of all stripes, especially active option traders.
“I’d like to bring back the genuine personal touch in self-directed brokerage, which I believe can be made possible by feathering technology and people together in new ways. I want to introduce a new generation of traders to the power of trading options,” he said.
“I aim to triple our revenue while maintaining profitability. We’re striving to lead the industry with thoughtful uses of the most exciting new technologies, and to have fun while doing so!” he added.
He explained that Firstrade doesn’t strive to serve every client on the planet: “We serve a pretty active trader segment quite well, yet we do it with a platform and tools that are also inviting to beginning traders and investors. We are both humble and proud.”
“We embrace new technologies with an eye towards both our own enterprise’s efficiency and profitability as well as our clients’ in the front of our minds every day,” he added.
When asked what can be expected from the firm this year, Montanaro commented: Look for a steady drumbeat of new releases that anticipate and serve the needs of our active and mobile clients, both experts and new traders. Our clients will enjoy better and faster and friendlier service as we continue to deploy technologies that free us up to serve them better and better.”
Liu added there is hardly anyone else in the industry who has innovated exciting offerings across multiple decades, platforms and cycles as successfully as Montanaro.
“With the pace of change in technology likely increasing exponentially in the coming months and years, we feel Don is the perfect addition to the Firstrade team,” he said.
