Wall Streetย Southโs Time Has Come
Bottom Line:ย Blackstone Group, Citadel Advisors,ย Elliott Capital Management,ย Goldman Sachs,ย Ichan Enterprises, Moelis,ย Virtu Financial. A Wall Streetโs whoโs who of firms. The elite of the elite. And all of which are now part of South Floridaโs story.ย Each of those ionic New York firms have moved meaningful swaths of their operations to South Florida over the past year. What started out as something fewย in New York paid much credence to about a year ago, has turned into a movement. Literally and figuratively. And thoseย firms, whoโve all relocated operations between Miami and Palm Beach Gardens within the past year have paved the path for whatโs becoming known as Wall Street South. Two recent eventsย areย helping to advance that characterizationย forward.ย
Virtu Financials' decision toย moveย operationsย to Palm Beach Gardens brings literal Wall Street trading activity to South Florida. Increasinglyย high-speedย traders like Virtu are consuming share of overall trading activity that used to exclusively beย executed by the stocks exchangesย themselves. The divorcing of trading activity at specific exchanges, like the New York Stock Exchange for stocks or the Chicago Board of Trade for commoditiesย more easily allows for a decentralizing of trading outside of those cities. As thatโs happeningย the question isnโt where the biggest playersย have toย be, itโs where they want to be.ย Quotingย Moelis CEO Ken Moelis โ I'm in the talent business.I want to attract and retain the greatest talent in the world and if that talent wants to do it in Florida, then weโll support them. And justย like that itโs happening.
Goldman Sachs taking out a lease toย moveย 100 of its topย playersย to West Palm Beach is the second and perhaps most symbolic changeย to date.ย This came on the heels of Goldman Sachs taking an inter officer poll on whoโd want to move to South Florida. Clearly there were takers, a la what Moelis described.ย In addition to bringing hundreds of high paying jobs and billions of dollars of business to South Florida, theyโre laying the groundwork for something bigger. Quoting Business Insider regarding the Goldman Sachs move...This was once unthinkable. But now itโs here. South Floridaโs now aย top-ten technology player and is quickly becoming aย second coming of Wall Street. Theย groundworkย laid in Florida prior to the pandemic has set our state up toย be long-termย beneficiaryย coming outย of it.