Leading Venue Neutral Provider Cowen / ATM Helps Clients Navigate Today’s Complex Trading Environment

NEW YORK, Sep 30, 2014 (BUSINESS WIRE) –Cowen Group, Inc. (“Cowen”) (NASDAQ:COWN) today said that Cowen / ATM, a
leading venue neutral provider, announced the successful launch of CLEAN
SEEK, the newest algorithm in the Cowen / ATM liquidity seeking suite of
products. CLEAN SEEK is the first of several additional new products the
company plans to release this fall after having spent the past year
developing transparent solutions to address client frustrations related
to the current market structure for electronic trading.

“We designed CLEAN SEEK to help institutional customers generate alpha
and combat interacting with potential predatory market participants
within dark pools on their low alpha or low urgency to trade orders,”
said John Cosenza, Co-Head of Cowen / ATM. “As the marketplace moves to
greater transparency, it is important for traders to capture the value
of increased visibility and better information within the electronic
products they use. Our CLEAN SEEK product represents both the option and
optimization of ‘quality over quantity.’”

Furthermore, the Cowen / ATM algorithmic framework allows customers to
customize routes or algorithmic strategies to trusted liquidity venues,
including IEX.

Mr. Cosenza continued, “Based upon the combination of client interest
and nearly a year of empirical data at IEX, we are excited to provide
customers the ability to customize algorithmic strategies for a venue
that demonstrates strong execution quality.”

“An important part of our growth has come from brokers leveraging IEX
across their algorithmic trading suite,” said Brad Katsuyama, Chief
Executive Officer and Co-Founder of IEX. “We are excited that
sophisticated firms such as Cowen, who have been supporters of IEX since
day one, are analyzing trading data and continuing to find opportunities
to leverage our market to benefit their clients.”

Cowen / ATM Focuses on Client Needs Without Conflict

The U.S. equity market structure debate has dominated financial media
headlines in 2014. Cowen / ATM supports the fact that market
transparency is critically needed for fundamental buyers and sellers of
equity and equity derivatives. The push for increased transparency has
created both an opportunity and a level playing field for electronic
providers to dive deeper into their processes and products to optimize
execution within a complex marketplace. Last year Cowen / ATM revealed
their BEST algorithm, which subsequently received distinction for its
performance in tough-to-trade small- and mid-cap securities, especially
during the middle of the trading session otherwise known as ‘the dead
zone.’ BEST incorporates switching engine technology, predictive pricing
models and anti-gaming logic to dynamically adjust strategy tactics and
parameters in real-time as market conditions and stock price movement
change.

“Cowen’s BEST product can help take some of the pressure off the trader
by making changes in real-time based on very short-term market
dynamics,” said William Lishman, Head of U.S. trading at Schroders
Investment. “By disrupting pattern recognition and utilizing predictive
analytics, we can more effectively control and supervise the order.”

In addition to creating products, Cowen is partnering with other leaders
in the industry to offer opportunities to educate investors on the most
relevant issues in the industry today. Earlier this year, Cowen
co-hosted the company’s first market structure teach-in with Themis
Trading in response to the significant increase in questions from
clients about navigating the trading environment.

“Cowen was a great partner in helping to put resident experts in front
of institutional customers to discuss these important market structure
issues in an open and objective forum,” said Joe Saluzzi, Co-Founder of
Themis Trading.

Sal Arnuk, Co-Founder of Themis Trading, stated, “The result was a
unique educational experience for everyone, and the feedback we received
was overwhelmingly positive.”

Cowen also joined the Advisory Board of TABB’s Clarity, a venue and
rounding analytics service, alongside three peer brokers and seven
investment managers.

“Routing and venue analytics is an area where we have a keen interest in
maintaining in-house expertise, which makes the Clarity Advisory Board
necessary in terms of both helping to establish a consistent framework
and collaborating with peers and clients to optimize execution quality,”
said Mr. Cosenza.

“Cowen was early to recognize the need and importance of what we are
trying to do with Clarity: providing institutional investors with
greater transparency, insight, and context into their execution data,”
said Larry Tabb, Founder and CEO at TABB Group.

By integrating a client first approach with a venue-neutral business
model, the Cowen / ATM business, which consists of execution algorithms,
routing strategies, portfolio trading and analytics products, is
uniquely positioned for the future U.S. equity ecosystem.

About Cowen Group, Inc.

Cowen Group, Inc. is a diversified financial services firm and, together
with its consolidated subsidiaries, provides alternative asset
management, investment banking, research, and sales and trading services
through its two business segments: Ramius and its affiliates make up the
Company’s alternative investment segment, while Cowen and Company and
its affiliates make up the Company’s broker-dealer segment. Ramius
provides alternative asset management solutions to a global client base
and manages a significant portion of Cowen’s proprietary capital. Cowen
and Company and its affiliates offer industry focused investment banking
for growth-oriented companies, domain knowledge-driven research and a
sales and trading platform for institutional investors. Founded in 1918,
the firm is headquartered in New York and has offices worldwide.

SOURCE: Cowen Group, Inc.

Media:
Sard Verbinnen & Co
Dan Gagnier/Carissa Felger,
212-687-8080