CBOE cuts 30 but says staffing about where it began 2012
BY FRANCINE KNOWLES Business Reporter fknowles@suntimes.com September 12, 2012 11:42AM
Updated: September 12, 2012 1:45PM
CBOE Holdings Inc. cut 30 jobs last week, “due to changing business needs,” the nation’s biggest options exchange disclosed Wednesday.
But the Chicago Board Options Exchange said its staffing level of just under 600 remains about even with where it started the year.
The job cuts will result in severance expense of roughly $2 million in the third quarter, the company said.
The cuts come in the wake of an 8 percent drop in the average daily volume of options trading at the CBOE through August, and a 14 percent drop industry wide, according to a presentation made by CBOE President and Chief Operating Officer Edward Tilly on Tuesday. Tilly addressed the Barclays 2012 Global Financial Services Conference.
“Going forward, we are satisfied that we have the optimal deployment of staff to best position CBOE for the future, but it is extremely difficult when changing business needs necessitate the elimination of positions,” William Brodsky, CBOE Holdings chairman and chief executive officer, said in statement Wednesday. “Taking this step is always a last resort for us. We have great respect for the people who have left, and we are doing our utmost to assist them in this transition.”
