By Iain Withers
LONDON (Reuters) – JPMorgan is assessing choices for its European headquarters in London because the fast-expanding Wall Road financial institution outgrows its present tower in London’s Canary Wharf monetary district, three sources aware of the matter advised Reuters.
The financial institution has begun analyzing choices for the place to base round 12,000 workers in London, with a choice prone to be made a while after U.S. workers transfer into their new international headquarters in New York subsequent yr, the sources mentioned.
JPMorgan’s European headquarters has been at 25 Financial institution Road since 2012, after it acquired the tower from collapsed rival Lehman Brothers following the worldwide monetary disaster.
The deliberations by the world’s largest financial institution in London will likely be watched intently by the property business.
Like different U.S. funding banks, JPMorgan beneath CEO Jamie Dimon has been one of the vital strident in pushing for workers to return to the workplace after the COVID-19 pandemic. That, mixed with rising headcount on the financial institution and its British retail subsidiary Chase UK, has elevated the urgency of needing more room.
Its present workplace at Financial institution Road, a 33-storey tower with 1.1 million sq. toes, is full up, one of many sources mentioned.
The financial institution might require as a lot as 1.5-2.0 million sq ft of house in London in future, one other of the sources mentioned.
JPMorgan is contemplating three choices – upgrading 25 Financial institution Road, constructing a brand new tower in Canary Wharf on land it already owns, or relocating to central London – the sources mentioned.
Nonetheless, leaving Canary Wharf is the least doubtless choice given the sheer quantity of workplace house required, two of the sources mentioned.
The financial institution has begun drawing up plans to spend probably lots of of tens of millions of kilos upgrading its present workplace, two separate sources mentioned.
No remaining selections have been made and any transfer might take years to execute, the sources mentioned, talking anonymously whereas discussing confidential plans.
JPMorgan and Canary Wharf Group, which manages the east London monetary district, declined to remark.
