SHORTENING trading hours in London would not be "helpful" for the City and could make it "less competitive globally", according to the head of one of Britain's biggest trading platforms.

June Felix, whose firm IG Group offers 24-hour trading to its customers, said "the whole idea that everything has to be around work/life balance" is a "bit skewed".

THE TIMES ARE A-CHANGING "Based on that, you wouldn't have 24-hour electricity... you wouldn't have 24-hour police support," she told City A.M. in an interview.

MARKET LEADERS AND INVESTOR SHORTER WORKING DAY ON for a 90-minute reduction to the day.

SEBASTIAN MCCARTHY @SebMcCarthy THE DAILY bustle on Europe's highoctane trading floors should be cut short Long hours are impacting on traders' mental health and wellbeing, the bodies warned, adding that a shortened day would help recruit and retain employees with families.

by more than an hour in a bid to improve mental health and diversity, two of the Industry bodies have Calls for greater diversity on the financial industry's most influential bodies have d t d trading floors come amid a wider push to been lobbying for the London Stock Exchange to trim the City's trading day, arguing it would improve workplace culture and market liquidity. In December the bourse launched a consultation into cutting hours, and European peer Euronext has followed suit.

"Right now London has a lot of challenges with Brexit," said Felix. "Adding [shorter hours] on top of that to make you less competitive globally would not necessarily, in my humble opinion, be helpful to where London wants to be and remain to be a global financial hub."

THEY GROUPS CALL FOR A THE CAPITAL'S TRADING FLOORS lagging behind a wider financial services industry push for more diversity and shorter could also mean less profit as there would be less time for activity."

£ READ THE FULL INTERVIEW: P12 inclusion unless the long trading day is tackled by an industry-wide approach".

" Another chief executive said: "I agree However, today's call has been met with the point that we need a more diverse workforce, but if you take off 90 with mixed reaction from those in the City.

minutes to the trading side of business, it won't solve much Thb f

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