Redundancies in the horizon as LSE looks to scrap trading system

LSE is looking at changing its IT set-up to stay ahead of the competition

Some 120 roles will be eliminated at the London Stock Exchange under a restructuring programme that has kicked off yesterday.

As part of the strategy, designed to stave off competition, the firm is also believed to be reviewing the future of its electronic trading platform TradElect.

Should the system be scrapped, staff at the IT department could be impacted as London-based employees concentrate on the group’s core systems Infolect and TradElect. Italian IT staff focus on areas such as derivatives, fixed income and web services.

The job cuts represent a reduction of 10 per cent in the bourse’s headcount across the consolidated group, which includes Borsa Italiana.

"With a new chief executive at the helm, the London Stock Exchange Group has been reviewing its operational structure and has identified changes to how it is organised," the firm said in statement.

"These changes will flatten the Group's structure and improve the speed of decision making. Inevitably, these changes will lead to job losses as well as new opportunities for some staff."

During the merger with the Italian exchange, redundancies in IT were minimal. Until very recently, job losses within the department were not expected for the foreseeable future.

“We used to outsource a lot of our IT but are now using fewer outsourcers, so there were roles for most of the people and they were quite excited about it. Besides, there is so much to do and I cannot think of positions I could do without,” LSE chief information officer David Lester told Computing last month.

At the time, Lester also hinted that LSE could take advantage of the wave of IT redundancies in the financial sector to support the firm’s future projects.

New LSE chief executive Xavier Rolet said technology will be a key in fighting the competition battle against smaller rivals such as Chi-X, Turquoise and Bats.

“Competition is not a new phenomenon, but we have firm foundations for growth and are ready to capitalise on the market changes. We are planning for the next step change for technology and looking to the future,” said Rolet when taking over from outgoing chief executive Clara Furse last month.

"We don't intend to see our competitors grabbing a bigger share of the market, " he said.