Death of a Trading Floor, A Photo Essay

UBS’ mortgage trading floor, at 6th and 51st in Manhattan, lost $45 billion in the subprime meltdown of 2007-08. It was shut down in 2009. Photos by Trevor Murray.

Our bid lists now are ended. All our tranches,

As I foretold you, are all worthless and

Are written down to nil, complete rubbish.

And, like the baseless pitchbooks of our salesforce,

The cashflow models, the busted warehouses,

The gorgeous bonuses, the great floor itself,

Yea, all which it once contained, shall dissolve

And, like our dried-up waterfalls,

Leave not a Bloomberg behind.

We are such stuff

As lawsuits are made on, and our little life

Is beset with accusatory depositions.

Trevor Murray studied philosophy at Notre Dame, but found himself writing CMBS research for Bank of America in the 1990s during the infancy of that product. From there, he had a 15-year career with various trading firms and Wall Street banks structuring, trading, and writing about commercial real estate securitizations (i.e., CMBS and CRE CDOs). Trevor left his last such position at UBS in 2012 on less-than-friendly terms, sued the bank, and is locked in mortal combat with the Swiss firm in US federal court to this day. Trevor spends his time between court appearances servicing commercial mortgages for a major retail bank in Charlotte, North Carolina.

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Copyright © 2022 Trevor Murray. All rights reserved. Used here with permission. Photos may be republished if Stories.Finance is credited or linked.