Many individual investors trust their money with large securities firms or investment dealers. Large brokerage firms typically have thousands of employees.LinkedInwithBackgroundBrokersBestOnlineBrokers2020BestOnlineBrokerAwardsStockBrokersForexBrokersInvestingBrokersManyindividualinvestorstrusttheirmoneywithlargesecuritiesfirmsorinvestmentdealers.Largebrokeragefirmstypicallyhavethousandsofemployees.Themostrecognizedfirmsgiveinvestorsconfidencethataseasonedteamofprofessionalsmanagestheirinvestments.However,weusuallyonlyinteractwithasingleemployee,suchasourinvestmentadvisororbroker.Sohowdoesalargesecuritieshousereallywork?Inthisarticle,wewilllookatatypicalsecuritiesfirm.Ouroverviewwillincludesomeofitsdifferentdepartmentsandtherolesofvariousemployees.HowaLargeSecuritiesFirmMayBeStructuredTypically,alargefirmhasthefollowingdepartments:SalesUnderwritingandFinancingTradingResearchandPortfolioManagementAdministrationManysmallboutiquefirmsmayserveonlyasingledepartmentofabusiness,suchasretailsales.Evenintheselimitedoperations,theiractivitieslikelyresemblethoseoftherespectivedepartmentofalargerfirm.SalesThesalesdepartmentusuallyemploysthelargestnumberofpeopleinasecuritiesfirm.Itisalsotheareathatindividualretailinvestorsinteractwiththemost.Withintheretailsalesforce,investmentadvisorsmayfocusonservicingaspecificareaoftheinvestmentindustry.Alternatively,theymayprovidea"one-stop-shop"forallretailinvestmentneeds.Forexample,aparticularinvestmentadvisormayactonlyasastockbroker.Theycanofferotherservicesaswell,suchasmutualfundtransactions,bondtrading,andlifeinsurancesales.Inasmallfirm,theactivitiesoftheinvestmentadvisorarelikelytobemorediverse.Aseconddivisionwithinthesalesdepartmentisinstitutionalsales.Itisprimarilyinvolvedinsellingnewsecuritiesissuestotradersworkingatinstitutionalclientfirms.Theseclientfirmsmayincludepensionfundsandmutualfunds.Sometimes,ahotnewsecuritiesissuegeneratessomuchinterestitquicklybecomesoversubscribed.Inthosecases,thejobofinstitutionalsalesisassimpleasalloc