Our History
We couldn't predict the future, but we knew how we'd get there.
From the beginning, AKJ evolved by putting the needs of its institutional clients first. In 1995, AKJ was founded as a brokerage and became a member of the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD). In its early years, the company advised European hedge funds and brokerages trading into the United States.
Building our Infrastructure
It wasn't long before these clients asked AKJ for help accessing the notoriously fragmented European markets. With each request, AKJ created infrastructure to help clients trade in the newly requested market and developed intelligent software to manage institutional order flow. As new exchanges were added, AKJ ExNetTM, AKJ's order routing system, grew into a powerful and sophisticated tool.
A Unique Offering
By 1998, AKJ found itself in a unique position. It was providing market connectivity and order routing in a large number of global markets using proprietary technology. Realizing it might have a first-mover advantage in Europe, AKJ began focusing on attracting institutional clients through efficient and industry-leading connectivity, while maintaining its independence and flexibility. AKJ integrated a wide range of trading systems and products with AKJ ExNetTM, tapped global pools of liquidity and focused on institutional straight-through processing. In 2004, Transaction Network Services (NYSE:TNS), one of the world's major FIX communication providers, took a stake in the company, and the AKJ NetworkTM was born.
A Global Player
Today, AKJ is both a leading financial software company and a major institutional agency brokerage. Clients are served through AK Jensen Group, Limited (our software and parent company), AK Jensen Limited (our European brokerage subsidiary), and AK Jensen, Inc. (our US brokerage subsidiary). Together, these companies provide infrastructure, software and technology that support connectivity solutions and executions to more than 60 exchanges worldwide, under the AKJ brand. AKJ's global sales force serves a wide range of clients, from major investment banks, to brokerages, fund managers, hedge funds and professional investors, in 37 countries.
By putting client needs first, AKJ continues to set new standards for global trading.