BarCap poised to move NYC trading floor in July

Barclays Capital, the investment banking arm of the UK's Barclays Bank, plans to begin moving to its new trading floor in midtown Manhattan in July, according to Nick Themelis, Barclays Capital's chief information officer for the Americas.

The move involves all Barclays Capital's 300 New York trading positions, including interest rate derivatives, foreign exchange and equities. The new floor, covering about 100,000 square feet, will be outfitted for 600 traders in anticipation of future growth.

Barclays is attempting to standardise all its core trading technologies in New York, London and Tokyo. "If a trader goes from New York to London to Tokyo, he should have a similar look and feel at his desk in all three locations. This facility is the largest undertaking in history for Barclays Capital outside of the UK," said Themelis.

Part of the global standardisation project is a storage area network (SAN) supported by EMC Symmetrix 8830 machines in four data centres - two of which are on-site in London and New York, respectively, and two based at undisclosed locations outside those cities. London is currently migrating onto the SAN, with New York to follow.

"We’re pretty careful not to bunch everything together," said Themelis.

A full version of this report is available in the latest issue of RiskNews' sister publication Trading Technology Week.