Peter Davidson

Founded in 1993, Amherst Securities Group LP is an SEC-registered broker/dealer headquartered in Austin, Texas. The firm is a subsidiary of Amherst Pierpont Securities LLC. Amherst Securities is a leading dealer and market maker in mortgage-backed securities, agency securities and select fixed-income investments. The firm focuses on mortgage-related investments for institutional customers including large federal agencies, private asset managers and mid-size depositories. Amherst Securities provides an array of trading and execution services for their clients. They do not provide any internal research.

Founded in 1985, NatWest Markets Securities, Inc. is a financial services and brokerage firm headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut. The firm is a subsidiary of RBS Holdings USA, Inc. and their ultimate parent is the Royal Bank of Scotland Plc (LSE: RBS). The firm was formerly known as RBS Securities, Inc., RBS Greenwich Capital, and Greenwich Capital Markets, Inc. NatWest is an institutional fixed-income firm that provides a full range of debt capital markets services to both those seeking to raise capital and those seeking to invest it. The firm is an industry leader in the U.S. Treasury, agency and MBS markets and in providing real estate and asset-backed financing to their clients. NatWest also provides futures brokerage services and trade strategies to select clients.

Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc. (MLPFS) is the SEC-registered broker/dealer subsidiary of Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., ultimately held by Charlotte-based Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC). The firm was founded in 1958 and is headquartered in New York City. In 2010, Banc of America Securities LLC merged with MLPFS and the firm uses the trade name Bank of America Merrill Lynch. MLPFS's global strategy and economics team serves institutional and individual investors using a wide range of macroeconomic disciplines. Their analysis of global issues provides clients with investment ideas, market forecasts, macro overviews and specific sector recommendations across asset classes, regions and disciplines. Their equity research team conducts fundamental analysis on companies globally and provides institutional and retail clients with industry-specific and in-depth research and analysis on numerous industries. The firm's global fixed-income and equity-linked research focuses on fixed-income and equity derivatives, fixed-income strategy, convertibles, commodities, high-yield, mortgages, municipals and global foreign exchange.