Oppenheimer & Co.

In 1881, William Fahnestock founded Fahnestock & Co. at Two Wall Street in New York. His father, Harris C. Fahnestock, was a financier and a founding member of the First National Bank of New York, one of the predecessors of Citigroup.⁠[1]

In 1936, Fahnestock & Co. absorbed H.L. Horton & Co., expanding its domestic business; after World War II, the firm extended its business to Europe and South America.⁠[1][1]

In 1950, Max E. Oppenheimer, a former Lehman Brothers broker, founded Oppenheimer & Co., which initially focused on serving large institutional clients.⁠[1][1]

In 1975, Oppenheimer established three core subsidiaries for retail brokerage, institutional asset management, and mutual fund management, the last of which was later sold to Invesco.⁠[1][1]

In 1982–1983, the UK’s Mercantile House Holdings acquired Oppenheimer. In 1986, Stephen Robert and Nathan Gantcher led a $150 million transaction to repurchase the firm’s broker-dealer, restoring management control. In 1987, Mercantile was acquired by British & Commonwealth; Oppenheimer continued to operate independently, and senior leadership became the majority owner of Oppenheimer Capital.⁠[1][1][1]

In 1985, Albert G. Lowenthal, who had worked in the securities industry since 1967, joined the board of the predecessor of today’s Oppenheimer Holdings as chairman, and he served as chief executive officer until April 2025; during his tenure, the company grew through acquisitions and organic growth, taking stockholders’ equity from $5 million to $984 million at the end of 2025.⁠[2][2][2]

In 1988, E.A. Viner Holdings acquired Fahnestock & Co. for $7.3 million, and the holding company subsequently became Fahnestock Viner Holdings, led by Albert “Bud” Lowenthal. Earlier names of the holding company included E.A. Viner Holdings Limited and Goldale Investments Limited, and it was originally incorporated in British Columbia, Canada.⁠[1][3][3]

In the 1990s, Fahnestock expanded its national network through a series of acquisitions, adding firms including B.C. Christopher Securities, New York & Foreign Securities Corporation, W.H. Newbold’s Son & Co., Reich & Co., First of Michigan Corporation, and Hopper Soliday.⁠[1][1]

In 1997, the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) acquired Oppenheimer for $525 million, establishing CIBC Oppenheimer Holdings: CIBC Oppenheimer handled the private client and asset management businesses, while the capital markets, investment banking, and equities businesses were placed in CIBC World Markets.⁠[1][1]

In September 2001, Fahnestock acquired 91.6% of Josephthal Group, and in October it bought substantially all of the remaining shares for $1 plus the assumption of $23,885,000 in liabilities; Josephthal was a New York broker-dealer founded in 1910 with approximately 265 financial consultants in 25 offices across the United States at the time of closing. In November of the same year, the company acquired Grand Charter Group, the parent of Prime Charter, for $2,892,000 in cash, gaining approximately 110 financial consultants; the businesses of both firms have been conducted by Fahnestock since January 1, 2002.⁠[3][3][3][3][3][3][3]

On January 3, 2003, Fahnestock Viner Holdings acquired the U.S. Private Client Division of CIBC World Markets and agreed to acquire its U.S. Asset Management Division at a later date, for a total consideration of approximately $241 million, of which approximately $13 million was paid in cash and the balance from the issuance of debt instruments. The Private Client Division brought approximately 620 account executives in 18 branches and approximately $30 billion in client assets, and the Asset Management Division had approximately $8.5 billion in assets under management; the acquisition more than doubled the company’s retail exposure and asset base. The asset management acquisition was completed in June 2003.⁠[4][4][4][4][4][3]

The transaction brought together Fahnestock’s 1881 heritage and Oppenheimer’s 1950 legacy, and the firm then adopted the Oppenheimer name: the brokerage subsidiary Fahnestock & Co. Inc. was renamed Oppenheimer & Co. Inc., and the holding company Fahnestock Viner Holdings Inc. was renamed Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. At the time, its Class A shares were listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol OPY.⁠[1][3][3][3]

On August 31, 2007, the company voluntarily delisted its Class A shares from the Toronto Stock Exchange, after which they traded only on the New York Stock Exchange; the Class B shares are not listed on any exchange.⁠[5][5]

On January 14, 2008, the company acquired CIBC World Markets’ U.S. investment banking, corporate syndicate, institutional sales and trading, equity research, options trading, and a portion of its debt capital markets businesses, as well as CIBC Israel Ltd. On September 5 and November 4 of the same year, it closed the acquisition of CIBC’s capital markets operations in the United Kingdom and Asia, establishing Oppenheimer EU Ltd. in London and Oppenheimer Investments Asia Ltd. in Hong Kong for that purpose. At the time of acquisition, these businesses employed over 600 people and, based on CIBC’s results for the year ended October 31, 2007, produced over $400 million in revenue; the consideration included an earn-out based on the performance of the combined capital markets business in 2008 through 2012, of no less than $5 million per year.⁠[5][5][6][6][6][6][6][6]

On May 11, 2005, Oppenheimer Holdings was continued from a Canadian provincial company as a Canadian federal corporation; on May 11, 2009, with shareholder approval, the company changed its jurisdiction of incorporation from Canada to the State of Delaware in the United States, with its headquarters in New York.⁠[7][7][7]

After investigating matters including Oppenheimer’s sales of low-priced securities on behalf of a former customer, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission notified Oppenheimer that it intended to institute administrative and cease-and-desist proceedings on grounds including failing to report a customer’s suspicious activities, aiding and abetting a customer’s violation of the broker-dealer registration provisions, failing to maintain ledgers accurately reflecting liabilities and expenses, and violating the registration provisions of Section 5 of the Securities Act. Oppenheimer submitted an offer of settlement on December 31, 2014; on January 27, 2015, the SEC accepted the settlement, issued a cease-and-desist order against Oppenheimer and censured it, ordered it to pay $10 million (comprising $4.2 million in disgorgement, $753,500 in prejudgment interest, and $5.1 million in civil penalties), and required it to retain an independent consultant to review its anti-money laundering and related compliance policies.⁠[8][8][8][8][8][8][8][8][8][8]

The same day, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a civil monetary assessment against Oppenheimer; Oppenheimer admitted that it had violated the Bank Secrecy Act and, after deducting its payment to the SEC, was required to pay a further $10 million to FinCEN in two installments.⁠[8][8][8]

On September 13, 2022, the SEC sued Oppenheimer in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleging that it had not fully complied with the exemption from continuing disclosure obligations for municipal securities, in violation of Section 15B(c)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act, Rule 15c2-12, and Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board Rules G-17 and G-27, and seeking an injunction, disgorgement of approximately $1.9 million plus interest, and a civil penalty. On January 30, 2024, the parties reached an agreement in principle to settle for a $1.2 million civil penalty; after Oppenheimer obtained a waiver of certain statutory disqualifications in December 2025, the court entered a final judgment on December 10, 2025, and Oppenheimer paid the penalty in full on January 7, 2026.⁠[9][9][9][9][9][9][9]

On February 27, 2025, the company announced that Albert G. Lowenthal would step down as chief executive officer of the holding company and of Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. at the close of the May 5 annual shareholders meeting, continuing as chairman of the company and becoming executive chairman of Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.; the board unanimously appointed president Robert S. Lowenthal as chief executive officer of both companies. Robert S. Lowenthal, the son of Albert G. Lowenthal, joined the company in 1999, served as global head of fixed income, became head of the investment banking business in 2016, was appointed president in 2021, and has been a director since 2013.⁠[10][10][10][10][2][2][2][2][2]

On June 6, 2025, Liberty Capital Group filed a putative class action in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against Oppenheimer Holdings, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc., and Oppenheimer Asset Management on behalf of customers who held cash in the Advantage Bank Deposit program, alleging that the company paid customers unreasonably low interest rates and seeking unspecified damages. In its annual report for fiscal year 2025, the company said it did not believe a loss was probable or that it could reasonably estimate a loss, and it made no accrual.⁠[9][9][9][9][9]

In September 2025, the company announced that its New Jersey-based discount broker-dealer Freedom Investments would cease operations and deregister as a broker-dealer; Freedom then ceased all brokerage activities, closed or transferred its remaining customer accounts, and filed its request for withdrawal on December 1, 2025.⁠[9][9]

On September 21, 2026, Oppenheimer reiterated its “Market Perform” rating on Tesla stock.⁠[11][11]

As of the end of 2025, through subsidiaries including Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. and Oppenheimer Asset Management, the company conducted retail securities brokerage, institutional sales and trading, investment banking (both corporate and public finance), equity and fixed income research, market-making, trust services, and investment advisory and asset management, with headquarters at 85 Broad Street in New York. The company had 2,947 employees, including 924 financial advisors, in 88 offices in 25 U.S. states, along with offices in Puerto Rico, London, Jersey, Geneva, Tel Aviv, and Hong Kong; client assets under administration were $143.3 billion, and client assets under management in fee-based programs were $55.2 billion. Its equities division had 36 senior research analysts covering approximately 675 stocks.⁠[9][9][9][9][9][9][9][9]

Oppenheimer Holdings’ Class A common stock is non-voting and listed on the New York Stock Exchange; approximately 98% of the voting Class B stock is held by an entity controlled by chairman Albert G. Lowenthal, allowing him to control all matters requiring stockholder approval.⁠[9][9]

Oppenheimer & Co.: Official website: https://www.oppenheimer.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[12]

LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry: Public profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/oppenheimer/ (opens in a new window)⁠[12]