Suited avatars and digital offices: traders and bankers embrace VR

A gamer reaches for a virtual book from an empty shelf as he wears augmented reality goggles during the media day at Gamescom, in Cologne, Germany, in August last year. — Reuters

LONDON: Once the preserve of gamers, virtual reality (VR) has been seized on by the financial sector as a way of enlivening home working for lonely traders or isolated executives and replicating real-world sales, networking or training events.

With 90% of employees at some of the world's biggest financial firms now working at home due to a resurgence in coronavirus infections, more and more companies are experimenting with VR.