Manic Tuesday as firms gear up for big vote turmoil
CITY traders are gearing up for a caffeine-fuelled all-nighter as investors grapple with the fallout from the crucial vote on Theresa May’s Brexit deal.
Banks, stockbrokers and advisers are braced for a night of chaos on trading floor.
The vote will be held late on Tuesday, with the outcome due after the London stock market closes.
Barclays and JP Morgan have both called on bankers to stay late into the night to make sure clients can continue to trade stock futures and currency as the result comes in.
If events drag on to the early hours, JP Morgan’s teams in the New York office will take over from London colleagues.
In Barclays’ investment bank, traders will be in the office earlier on Tuesday to prepare ahead of the vote, while analysts and economists will be on standby to brief clients.
Currency trading will be the focus overnight as markets deliver a verdict on what the vote means for the UK economy.
One source at a major spreadbetting firm, which allows individual investors to bet on market movements, said last night they would be ordering pizzas to keep staff from going hungry through the night. They have also booked out rooms at a hotel next door so traders can take short naps during quieter periods.
Traders at Samuel & Co Trading have even set up a mini golf course to keep staff entertained and will bring sleeping bags into the office.
On Wednesday, domestic stocks will take centre stage as traders analyse the political fallout, the chances of a no-deal Brexit or even a General Election, which might lead to a Labour government under Jeremy Corbyn.
Investment platforms such as AJ Bell and Hargreaves Lansdown are gearing up for a spike in online traffic when the market opens on Wednesday.
Danny Cox, of Hargreaves Lansdown, said: ‘We are increasing staffing levels on our helpdesk and support functions on the Wednesday morning by around 40 per cent to cater for what could be a very busy opening period of trading.’
Away from the trading floor, bankers and consultants are teeingup to help clients plan for the weeks ahead.
Lloyds bankers will be staying late on Tuesday and coming in early on Wednesday to monitor events and take check-in calls with any concerned clients.
Accounting giant PwC is hosting internal briefings to make sure its consultants are up to date on events so they can advise clients, both in the UK and abroad.
While PwC hasn’t made any specific predictions about how the vote will pan out, the organisation has spent time scenario planning so that it is prepared for all possible outcomes and can inform clients through webcasts, briefing notes and newsletters sent out as events unfold.
James Stewart, KPMG’s head of Brexit, said there had been a significant pick-up in calls in recent weeks as clients try to understand what the vote means for their businesses.
Stewart added: ‘We are seeing much more client activity around Brexit over the past two weeks. That’s a mix of small businesses who have only just realised they need to act, and larger businesses who are activating their plans.’