Two of Wall Street\u2019s largest lenders announced major UK expansions on Thursday, just hours after the sector avoided higher taxes in Rachel Reeves\u2019s autumn budget. JP Morgan confirmed plans to build a new headquarters in Canary Wharf, a 3 million square foot tower that will accommodate more than half of its 23,000 UK employees. The project is expected to cost around \u00a33 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a statement, the chancellor said the development was \u201ca multibillion-pound vote of confidence in the UK economy\u201d. Reeves rejected questions about whether the announcements were linked to the government\u2019s decision not to raise bank taxes, saying firms were investing because they \u201cliked what they heard in the budget\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A source close to JP Morgan said the decision had been in the works for months and was driven by a long-term strategy rather than recent tax policy. With US markets closed for Thanksgiving, the bank considered the timing appropriate for the announcement, the source added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jamie Dimon, JP Morgan\u2019s chief executive and chair, highlighted the bank\u2019s continued commitment: \u201cLondon has been a trading and financial hub for more than a thousand years, and maintaining it as a vibrant place for finance and business is critical to the health of the UK economy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bank estimates the headquarters could contribute nearly \u00a310 billion to the economy, factoring in construction costs, suppliers, employment and wider business activity. The direct building cost alone is expected to be close to \u00a33 billion. The structure will be designed by Foster + Partners, the same architects behind JP Morgan\u2019s recently completed headquarters at 270 Park Avenue in New York.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The tower is expected to take six years to complete. It follows a separate \u00a3350 million expansion at JP Morgan\u2019s Bournemouth campus announced last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Goldman Sachs also announced plans on Thursday to more than double its presence in Birmingham, hiring an additional 500 staff. The move forms part of broader investments in technology and artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are increasing our financing activities to critical parts of the economy where we see substantial opportunities to deploy capital, including in AI and digital infrastructure, with several billion pounds ready to be committed,\u201d a Goldman spokesperson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The announcements came after reports that the Treasury had asked banks to issue supportive statements about the budget. While the government avoided introducing higher levies on lenders, officials said the priority was ensuring investment and growth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
JP Morgan unveils new London headquarters Two of Wall Street\u2019s largest lenders announced major UK expansions on Thursday, just hours after the sector avoided higher taxes in Rachel Reeves\u2019s autumn budget. JP Morgan confirmed plans to build a new headquarters in Canary Wharf, a 3 million square foot tower that will accommodate more than half […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10772,"featured_media":13016,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[3199],"class_list":{"0":"post-13015","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-h"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetimesfinancial.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetimesfinancial.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetimesfinancial.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetimesfinancial.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10772"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetimesfinancial.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13015"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thetimesfinancial.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13015\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13017,"href":"https:\/\/thetimesfinancial.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13015\/revisions\/13017"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetimesfinancial.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetimesfinancial.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetimesfinancial.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetimesfinancial.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}