| Barclays in hunt for Fx traders |
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| Written by Sam Coventry | |
| Thursday, 11 March 2010 12:50 | |
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Recruitments for Swiss-based traders - UBS and Credit Suisse could be targeted. Barclays (LON:BARC) is reportedly keen to hunt down foreign currency traders for their Swiss based operations. The news has had analysts speculated that the bank will target traders at UBS and Credit Suisse. The Wall Street Journal has reported that Barclays Capital is looking for ‘dozens’ of Swiss currency traders in an attempt to grow their market share in the Swiss currency trading market. The market is, as expected, dominated by UBS and Credit Suisse. According to the Journal Jon Laycock, a spokesman for Barcap in London, declined to comment on the plans. The people familiar with situation didn't quantify the number of traders Barclays is looking to hire or move to Switzerland, though it is likely to be less than the several dozen mentioned in German business paper Handelsblatt, which reported the news Wednesday. In other news Barclays business customers are receiving new or re-issued contactless cards from this month. This is part of the bank's drive to replace its portfolio with cards enabled with the "touch-and-go" technology, which allows customers to pay for low value purchases by holding the card over a reader, without the need for a PIN code. Since Barclays introduced contactless payment technology in 2007, over six million customers have been issued with a contactless-enabled Barclays Visa debit card or Barclaycard credit card. And the limit for such transactions has recently increased from £10 to £15, thereby increasing the appeal of the technology for retailers. "We work with a large number of small and medium businesses in the UK so we have a good understanding of their day-to-day banking needs," said head of debit cards for Barclays, Brian Cunnington, in a statement. 
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