Cantor Fitzgerald

Cantor Fitzgerald was probably the company worst affected by the attack of 11 September 2001. The financial services provider had its headquarters between the 101st and 105th floors of the North Tower and on that day lost 658 of its 1,000-plus staff in New York City. Almost a quarter of the WTC victims were Cantor Fitzgerald employees. The company played a leading role in the US financial system as a fixed-income broker. The disaster therefore jeopardised not only the company's existence but also the operational capability of part of the financial system.

The important electronic trading platform "eSpeed" was operational again as early as 13 September. That was thanks, first and foremost, to the London office and the colleagues who survived. Furthermore, Cantor Fitzgerald's IT systems and data were protected by excellent back-up systems. Fears that the financial system might be adversely affected proved unfounded in this case, despite the massive and tragic events. Even the Cantor Fitzgerald company itself survived. From a financial point of view, it has come out of the disaster even stronger - though this was associated with the complete reorganisation of its business model.

Naturally, Cantor Fitzgerald's story does not prove that disasters in megacities cannot harm the financial system — or even individual companies. It does show, however, that the highly connected and globalised international financial system is very robust.