By Kristina Cooke
NEW YORK (Reuters) - NYSE Euronext (NYX.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)(NYX.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Chief Executive Duncan Niederauer said on Monday the New York Stock Exchange's trading floor population could decline 15 percent to 20 percent by the end of the year, excluding American Stock Exchange staffers.
The ranks of traders and specialists have been thinned by automation in recent years, and NYSE Euronext last year closed down two of its four trading rooms. A fifth room was closed the year before.
"As we roll out more technology and we change some of the rules, it is easier for more of the risk management of the specialist books to be done remotely, so I think they would need fewer people on the floor." Niederauer said at the Reuters Exchanges and Trading Summit in New York.
"I wouldn't stand in the way of that, and I could see us just in the main room eventually," he said.
The trading floor has about 650 license-holders, as well as a couple of hundred non-licenseholders, such as clerical staff, he said.
"Could that go down by another 15 or 20 percent? Sure," he said. "Is it going to zero? Not anytime soon. Probably never."
"I don't plan to close the trading floor. It is not even on my very long list of things to do. I think it's an important part of our brand and our value proposition."
Niederauer said in periods of market turmoil, such as occurred in January this year and August last year, having experts on hand was a key differentiator. Continued...
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