| 23 July 2009

Interactive Brokers (IBKR) reported a slight dip in revenues and profit in the second quarter, but an increase in customer accounts and daily average trades. The main culprit for the decrease seems to be their market-making segment which faced lower margins on tighter bis/ask spreads.

Net revenues were $322 million, compared with $395 million during the same period in 2008. Customer accounts grew 18% to 122,000 and daily average trades grew 11%in the quarter to 317,000. The company didn't highlight any big product changes over the quarter.

In a statement, IB's CEO Thomas Peterffy said, “In this difficult climate, being possibly the only firm recording year on year gains in the brokerage segment is a proof of concept event. Best execution prices, industry low commissions and state of the art money management tools give the edge to our customers over others. The better our customers do the more business we do.”

He's incorrect to say that they are "possibly the only firm recording year-on-year gains." Schwab (SCHW), E*TRADE (ETFC) and TD Amertrade (AMTD) all just announced quarterly increases in accounts and assets under management. But we give him kudos for his statement about giving the customers an edge.

“Constantly seeking our customers' advantage ultimately inures to our own benefit,” said Peterffy.

Here here!