A associate of exchange staff uses a fixed-line telephone while looking at financial data on computer screens on the trading baffle of Bats Europe, the European arm of Bats Global Markets Inc., in London, U.K..
Jason Alden/Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Notions
Trading floors in banks have been immortalized in countless Hollywood movies. Chaotic scenes of financial professionals, regularly on the phone, and often screaming; rows of desks and endless monitors all convey highly stressful situations in an industry where unceasingly a once is literally money.
While there’s some fiction to this stereotype, the images of densely populated, cavernous spaces are grounded in the correctness. And in the era of Covid-19, of course, all that frenetic activity and tightly-packed bodies pose a big challenge — even more so than in the orthodox group office. As banks begin to think about bringing employees back to work, trading floors could a moment get a dramatic makeover.
“We do believe—and we think we will see—a little relaxing of the rigidity of the planning and the shape of trading floors,” Rocco Giannetti, overseeing director at architecture firm Gensler, told CNBC. “Maybe trading floors don’t need to be as large. Perchance they don’t need to be as dense. Maybe the configurations don’t have to be so linear, so we’re starting to study what that could look take to,” he added.
Gensler is an expert in designing office spaces for the financial services industry. The firm has worked with a numeral of banks, including designing the Bank of America tower in New York City’s Bryant Park, which was completed in 2009. Gensler’s other customers include JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank, Citigroup, Nomura and Societe Generale.
Ease of communication has always been significant when thinking about the design and layout of trading floors. But in more recent years, banks have also focused on affording enhancements around the trading floor, such as greenery and coffee bars, as a way to counteract the day-to-day stresses for traders. This fad is likely to accelerate in the wake of Covid-19, especially as banks look to recruit and retain talent in the hyper-competitive assiduity.
A broker looks at financial data on computer screens on the trading floor at ETX Capital, a broker of contracts-for-difference, in London, U.K., on Friday, June 9, 2017.
Jason Alden | Bloomberg | Getty Mental pictures
Giannetti and his colleague Marisol DeRosa, strategy director at Gensler, recently hosted a roundtable with representatives from the top fiscal institutions to discuss work-from-home policies and possible ways to brings traders back into the office. One key theme that come into viewed was the smoother-than-expected adoption of remote technology, and how this might play a role in more flexible work policies flourishing forward.
“Before this, there was a lot of trepidation or hesitation to be the first financial institution to move forward with untested technology on the pursuit floors,” Giannetti said. “They’ve learned that you know what [happens when] they’ve ripped off the corps aid and technology works, and that’s no longer a limitation.”
DeRosa added that more recently, as work from to the quick stretches on, the conversations with executives have shifted to focus on what flexibility over the longer term strength look like. This includes such things as de-risking trading-from-home policies, as well as testing different work-station configurations on the shopper floor, rather than long rows of desk after desk.
The majority of bank employees were sent snug harbor a comfortable in mid-March as the country went into lockdown. This included traders, in a move that was previously thought unthinkable due to a host of factors, including regulatory concerns and specialized software that could only be accessed from the interchange floor. But Wall Street was forced to adapt. And banks’ trading revenue during the second quarter — including JPMorgan’s memorial number — shows that adapt they did.
An employee watches a news broadcast on the trading floor at Panmure Gordon & Co. in London, U.K.
Matthew Lloyd I Bloomberg via Getty Ikons
The head of JPMorgan’s corporate and investment bank recently told CNBC that in the near future a rotational creme de la creme will be in place in which workers will cycle between days spent at the office and at home while food the ability to work remotely on a part-time basis. In New York, the firm’s buildings are at roughly 10% capacity over all, while mercantilism businesses are closer to 30% capacity.
As more traders head back to the office, DeRosa noted that short-term repays such as employees divided into different “teams” that are in the office at different times, as well as plexiglass wall offs placed between work stations, could pop up. A hub-and-spoke strategy could also be implemented, in which traders are based at multiple help buildings around a central city. Similar to other office spaces, longer-term changes will likely allow for more touchless technology like automatic doors and contactless lights.
While trading from home has sustained successful and more flexible policies could be in place going forward, Giannetti ultimately believes that people bequeath want to head back to the office once the pandemic abates.
“When we do have a choice, we feel people determination want to return to the office, want to return to the trading floors, because there’s no way to recreate that connection to education, the community building, and the brand, other than by the in-person experience,” he said.
– CNBC’s Hugh Son contributed reporting.
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