Cowen Group, announced that Matt Baldassano has joined Cowen as Managing Director, Head of Global Securities Finance. Mr. Baldassano is based in New York and reports to Dan Charney, Head of Equities.

Mr. Charney said, “Establishing a securities finance capability is a natural complement to Cowen’s prime services business, which was established last fall. Matt, a seasoned professional with more than 30 years of experience in securities finance, will be responsible for driving growth in high margin securities finance products. We look forward to Matt’s contributions to the organization.”

Prior to joining Cowen, Mr. Baldassano was Co-Head of Global Prime Services and Head of Global Securities Finance at Jefferies. Before that, Mr. Baldassano was the Global Co-Head of Securities Lending and Prime Brokerage Sales/Trading at Lehman Brothers. Previously, he was the head of the US equities securities lending business at the Pershing Division of Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette. Mr. Baldassano graduated from Fairleigh Dickinson University with a BS in Finance and Economics.