did they give you an idea of the trading/it/risk support teams (size/experience)? What about the US costs?
The new office is just around the corner from Fortis and since the office is run by them the trading & IT support will be direct with onsite Fortis people. There is a large comms room and an office of about 20 desks which I was told was just for support. They have only kitted out one of the two floors with desks/chairs so far and there is an option to go into a glassed walled office of 4-6 desks or sit on the main floor. They told me that about 25-30 desks are already taken.
TradersAlliance are not related to Fortis but have structured a group deal to take space as and when required in the Fortis Space. I have been told that the alliance will also have their own risk manager/s as they will run an account structure like any normal arcade, which will allows them to set and monitor individual limits independently.
The independence thing also means that it is possible to negotiate rates and if unsatisfied go find another clearing company. This will provide leverage to get rates down as prices go up. Should work in the same way on the desk fee. The pro rata space deal appears to be only for the first space of 150 desks after which the alliance has to make a decision about whether to take on a term lease for more that would be on the second floor which is monstrous, must be 6000sqft, and currently empty.
Personally I like the idea and think it will ensure costs stay low across the board and self funded traders finally get to keep a much better share of their hard won profit. The person behind this Alliance thing seems very straight forward and professional, he runs his own grad sponsorship schemes which he is moving into the new office from day 1. Will try to get him on here so people can get any of the difficult questions answered and work out if it is a better deal or not.
I have said all I know about it - In a nutshell costs at start appear to be
Desk: £1300 incl PC, TT platform/or any other, 2 screens and VAT.
Charts/News: As requested and charged at cost which will be negotiated accordingly, currently aggressive esignal deal ~£150pcm incl. exchange fees. can also share 1 between a number of traders on slave screens.
Rates: Eurex â¬0.27/side
LIFFE £0.35/side
CME & CBOT I have not confirmed but think they are $0.07/side over exchange fee
Any other questions beyond this should be addressed to the website. If I find out more I will let you know.