JERSEY CITY, N.J., July 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Knight Trading Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: NITE) today announced that Peter S. Hajas was promoted to President and Chief Operating Officer of the Company, as recommended by Chairman and CEO Kenneth D. Pasternak and ratified by the Company's Board of Directors at its quarterly meeting.

"Knight had the opportunity to promote from within -- and we did. We are applying our management bench strength to focus and fortify each of our business operations," Mr. Pasternak said. "Our increased emphasis on near-term operational performance dictates strong leadership within the organization. In line with this strategy, Peter Hajas, currently CEO of Knight Financial Products, has been named President and COO of Knight Trading Group. Peter now has direct responsibility for all operating units and is charged with keeping operations and technology moving forward in concert across the broad scope of our businesses."

Mr. Hajas, 41, joined Knight Trading Group in January 2000 upon completion of the Company's acquisition of Arbitrade Holdings LLC, a technologically advanced options market maker and asset manager with operations in the U.S. and Europe. Those operations are now Knight Financial Products and Deephaven Asset Management.

Prior to joining Arbitrade, Mr. Hajas was Managing Director of Global Fixed Income and Derivatives for Swiss Bank Corporation (SBC) from 1990 to 1998. He was instrumental in determining strategy and direction for the bank's entire fixed-income operation, and he managed all of SBC's global fixed-income derivative products and government bond operations, based in London, including more than 300 traders, analysts and marketers. From 1989 to 1990, he was a Partner at O'Connor & Associates, SBC's derivatives trading predecessor, where he was responsible for equity and non-equity options as well as global fixed- income markets.

Mr. Hajas serves on the Board of Directors of the International Securities Exchange (ISE). He earned a B.S. in Physics, Mathematics and Computer Science from Loyola University, Chicago, in 1982.

"Peter has hands-on experience building companies from the ground up and growing business overseas," Mr. Pasternak said. "In the 18 months since he started working with Knight Trading Group, Peter has demonstrated the ability to create teams and leverage technology to improve operations, grow our market share, and manage risk globally."

Knight is the liquidity center that offers superior execution services to its broker-dealer and institutional clients in over-the-counter (OTC) and listed equity securities, and in equity options. In so doing, Knight helps its clients meet their fiduciary obligation of obtaining best execution for the securities orders that they place on behalf of their customers. Knight also maintains an asset management business for institutional investors and high net worth individuals through Deephaven Capital Management.

Knight has the power to commit capital for market orders, and also maintains one of the largest limit order books in the OTC market. It is one of the largest destinations for stock orders placed via the Internet. Knight traded 112 billion shares in the year 2000, a volume behind only those posted by Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). For the second consecutive year, based on 1999 and 2000 fiscal year results, Knight was ranked by Forbes magazine as one of the 500 most profitable public companies in the U.S. Ultimately, Knight plans to enable the global trading village to trade all types of equity securities and options at anytime, from anywhere in the world. More information about Knight can be obtained at http://www.knighttradinggroup.com.

The matters described herein contain forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties or other factors beyond the Company's control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from historical results, performance or other expectations and from any opinions or statements expressed with respect to future periods. These factors include, but are not limited to, the Company's ability to implement its growth strategies, economic, political and market conditions and fluctuations, government and industry regulation, interest rate risk, intellectual property rights, and other factors detailed in the Company's registration statement and periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. SOURCE Knight Trading Group, Inc.

CONTACT: Margaret Wyrwas, Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications & Investor Relations, +1-201-557-6954, mwyrwas@knight-sec.com, or Judy Pirro, Manager, Investor and Shareholder Relations, +1-201-356-1548, judy_pirro@knight-sec.com, or Kara Fitzsimmons, Manager, Corporate Communications, +1-201-356-1523, kara_fitzsimmons@knight-sec.com, all of Knight Trading Group, Inc./