Does UBS's London trading floor have a mouse problem?

Does UBS's London trading floor have a mouse problem? This would seem to depend upon where you sit. 

Various employees at UBS tell us that the office at 5 Broadgate has got a mouse issue and that it is particularly acute on the trading floor on floor two where many fixed income trading desks are housed. 

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"It's pretty bad," says one anonymous trader. "There are mice running across the floor...You often see them during the day. A few weeks ago I heard a scream from the row next to me where a mouse had literally run by a guy’s feet while he was sat at his desk."

UBS declined to comment. Other traders at the Swiss bank said they had not seen mice on the trading floor, although one said he had seen a mouse in the canteen. Another told us that the mouse issue has been a longstanding problem. Another said it's no big deal and that all major office buildings in London have some form of infestation.

To the extent that there is a problem, traders say it's worse on the second than on the fourth floor trading floors and that it's worse again if you're working late or during quiet periods. "Last year I worked a couple of the days between Christmas and New Year and I probably saw six mice a day," says one trader. 

That same trader says mouse traps have been installed by management to resolve the problem, but they are not always emptied promptly.

"For a big European investment bank to have a trading floor full of mice I think is absurd," he said. "Even in the canteen if you go there late afternoon or evening when it’s quiet, you can see them running around."

Another senior trader at the Swiss bank says UBS is not an outlier. "It's like every bank I've worked for," he says. "You see some mice."

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