Derivatives dealers report business as usual after power cut

Major derivatives dealers say their systems coped well with yesterday’s power cuts in New York and report that trading is continuing as normal.

A spokesman for JP Morgan Chase in London said that yesterday’s trading day closed successfully and that today it was “business as usual”. “We have back-up systems that functioned perfectly,” said the spokesman.

Deutsche Bank issued the following statement: “We can confirm that we are able to carry out all business-critical operations today. Payment transactions from yesterday were processed. We have full use of our 60 Wall Street headquarters and all our buildings outside New York City. Our other buildings in New York City are partly operational. Our contingency sites have been activated and are fully operational.”

A spokesman for Goldman Sachs said the trading room lost power for 20 seconds before the back-up kicked in. The spokesman added that some employees had chosen to spend the night in the office to be on hand for business the following day.