The protagonists

The experts on the trading floor are used to working across teams and in open spaces. The location of the different desks on the floor also helps the culture of cross-communication between the different teams and the efficient handling of public information.

From the origination of the product to the sale to the final client, there is a huge amount of teamwork: "It's important to trust your colleagues, breaking down walls between areas and also hierarchical barriers," explains Francisco Javier Fernández, Head of Foreign Exchange in Europe.

Most of the links in this value chain come together on the trading floor: structuring, trading, sales, research and e-Commerce. They form part of a well-oiled machine that works to offer clients the best possible product.

Sales are responsible for direct relations with clients. Traders price the transactions for sales and manage the risks derived from them. The structuring specialists design solutions that combine different instruments. Of these three teams located on the floor, more than half are sales (52%), 39% traders and 9% structuring specialists.

On the floor, as part of this value chain, is the figure of the Quant & Business Solutions specialist, who develops and implements mathematical models and analytical tools; as well as the e-Commerce expert, whose main goal is to develop, improve and distribute the offer of services and prices through the different digital channels.

Away from the floor are two other very important players: the market analysts and the originators of the transactions in primary markets, who must be separated by a "Chinese wall". This mechanism aims to prevent the occurrence of conflicts of interest between the different departments of an entity that are related to transactions with an impact on the securities markets.