where are back offices physically located 
back offices used to be located literally behind the front office or trading desk these days many financial corporations have moved their back office locations to lower cost sites such as florida or north carolina where rents and salaries are generally lower than big cities like new york or chicago the bottom linethe back office plays a crucial role in supporting the front office think sales trading desk by processing the trades made by customers of the bank or for the banks own proprietary trading operations some of the functions of the back office are confirming trades and settlement instructions clearances record maintenance regulatory compliance accounting and it services it goes without saying then that the front office activities could not be processed without the back office and the back office would not exist were it not for the front offices sales and trading activities making teamwork essential while frequently unseen the back office performs critical duties stemming from front desk activities by the same token back office operations are a cost center leading many financial firms to locate their back office or operations teams in lower cost locations like florida or north carolina where real estate and labor costs are lower than the city where the head office may be located e g new york or chicago 