B of A Opens Trading Floor in Chicago Office

BankAmerica Corp. said it has opened a high-tech trading floor in its Midwest regional headquarters in Chicago.

The 10,500-square-foot facility accommodates 200 employees who trade in foreign exchange, derivatives, corporate bonds, and fixed-income instruments, according to the bank.

The trading floor incorporates high-tech desktop computers, telephones, video conferencing centers, sound-masking technology to absorb noise, and 104 ergonomic trading desks. BankAmerica said it will run its Midwestern risk management and capital markets research operations out of the new facility.

Based in San Francisco with $265 billion of assets, BankAmerica agreed last month to merge with Charlotte, N.C.-based NationsBank Corp.

NationsBank has a small team of traders in Chicago, and a source at BankAmerica predicted that they would work at the new trading floor after the merger.

"We've assembled what we believe is the banking industry's most current combination of real-time trading and pricing technology," said Robert C. Griffin, executive vice president of BankAmerica's global debt capital raising group.

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