Knight Capital CEO says firm did not act slowly

Aug 2 (Reuters) - Knight Capital Group Chief Executive Officer Thomas Joyce said on Thursday that the market-making firm had acted appropriately after a trading glitch and would like to maintain its business.

Joyce, whose firm lost $440 million in capital after the glitch roiled the prices of nearly 150 stocks, told Bloomberg TV that Knight had not acted "in a slow fashion" and had alerted its clients immediately to the problem.

Joyce also said that, despite not being "happy" about reducing investors' confidence after botched trades in markets of late, he aims to keep the firm's business alive.

Knight Capital Group's glitch follows the notoriously botched initial public offering of Facebook Inc, which has been cited as a dent to market confidence.

Joyce also said Knight Capital "has excess capital right now" and that the firm needs to improve its testing operations.

He would not give details on what kind of financing and capital relationships the firm is seeking.