The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) has opened its new Southern Business Center (SBC) in Tampa, Florida.
“What’s very special about our coming here,” said Chairman and CEO Jill M. Considine, during a ceremony commemorating the opening, “is how folks at the state, county and local level–and especially the private sector–pulled together to convince us that this is where we should be. Tampa, as you may know, is an Indian word meaning ‘sticks of fire.’ Well, lots of people were sticks of fire in helping to bring DTCC to Florida.”
The new SBC is a key component of a larger business continuity strategy that DTCC has undertaken since Sept. 11, 2001 to safeguard the certainty and resiliency of the nation’s financial services system, she added.
Since last December, DTCC has been able to complete settlement of securities trades in U.S. markets at this new facility, which it has called a “critical part” of its network of which it has multiple operating centers and numerous backup capabilities all throughout the country.
Considine said that, while DTCC on Sept. 11 continued to operate without disruption and settled trades involving billions of dollars, the company “learned some lessons that day.” She said the DTCC needs to further decentralize its workforce and facilities.
“The object is to ensure that we can sustain our business operations, even in the face of considerable disruption,” she said. “If we can’t do our job, it begins to affect the safety and soundness of U.S. financial markets in general.”
DTCC chose Tampa from among nearly 300 other cities considered because of its knowledgeable workforce, local power and telecommunications infrastructure, affordable housing, diversity, educational resources, good medical facilities, accessible airports and reasonable cost of living.