The Largest Trading Floor In The World: Then And Now

Wall Street isn’t what it used to be. A photo tweeted recently by Charles Schwab Chief Investment Strategist Liz Ann Sonders encapsulates the downfall of the traditional Wall Street trading business.

Sonders’ photo shows the massive UBS Group AG (USA) UBS trading facility in Stamford, Connecticut.

At the peak of its heyday prior to the Financial Crisis, it was the largest trading facility in the world, and much of its space was occupied by traders. Sonders’ “before” picture shows the facility in all its former glory. Today, her “after” picture of the UBS facility is worth 1,000 words.

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Since 2008, UBS has moved many of its remaining traders across the street to the Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC RBS facility. Business Insider reportd that UBS’s $156 million mortgage on the Stamford facility was transferred to a troubled loan company earlier this year.

Many of the former human traders on Wall Street have been replaced by software in recent years. The struggles of big banks has fueled the rise of a new financial technology industry, referred to as “fintech.” Fintech includes robo-advisors, trading algorithms and apps, peer-to-peer lending platforms, and other technology-based investment tools that have forced traditional banks’ feet to the fire.

Since 2011 alone, the top 10 global banks have cut more than 10,000 front-office jobs to try to pad earnings as historically-low interest rates squeeze margins.