JP Morgan is quietly unwinding part of its post-Brexit Parisian build-up, shifting a clutch of trading roles back to London in what insiders describe as a recalibration rather than a retreat from the Continent.
The Wall Street giant, which moved aggressively to bulk up its French operations after Britain’s departure from the European Union, has concluded that it overshot when estimating how many EU-based staff it would need to satisfy the bloc’s regulators. A handful of traders are now packing their bags for the City, with the bank citing a combination of evolving role requirements, regulatory clarity and, tellingly, personal tax considerations among bankers themselves. Bloomberg was first to report the move.
“Paris is the home of JP Morgan’s EU sales and trading team, and we are committed to our sizeable operations on the Continent for the long term,” a spokesperson for the bank insisted, in language designed to soothe the Élysée as much as the markets.
Britain’s exit from the EU triggered one of the most disruptive structural overhauls global banking has seen in a generation. Lenders were forced to redistribute assets, capital and personnel across jurisdictions to keep client access alive and regulators on side. JP Morgan was among the most enthusiastic movers, transplanting hundreds of bankers across the Channel and turning Paris into a genuine European trading hub.
The strategy paid handsome dividends, at least diplomatically. Chief executive Jamie Dimon, widely regarded as the world’s most influential banker, was awarded France’s Légion d’Honneur in recognition of the bank’s contribution to lifting the French capital’s status in international finance. By the back end of last year, JP Morgan had roughly 1,000 staff in France, with 650 of them on the markets side.
That figure is now drifting in the opposite direction, and the timing is no coincidence. The bank is pressing ahead with plans for a colossal 3m sq ft tower in Canary Wharf, unveiled in the wake of an Autumn Budget that, to the relief of the Square Mile, spared the banking sector from a long-trailed tax raid. Chancellor Rachel Reeves hailed the project as “a multi-billion pound vote of confidence in the UK economy”.
The numbers are eye-watering even by the standards of British infrastructure spending. The development is expected to pump as much as £10bn into the wider economy, generate 7,800 construction and supply-chain jobs and ultimately house up to 12,000 employees, cementing London as JP Morgan’s principal base across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
But the deal is not done. JP Morgan has made plain that the skyscraper will only rise if Westminster keeps the fiscal weather favourable. A report from Tower Hamlets council disclosed that the bank has lobbied for “a business rates incentive over a period of years”, and ministers themselves have cautioned the local authority that JP Morgan is “unlikely to progress” without “clarity and certainty” on its eventual tax bill.
For SME owners watching from the sidelines, the message is mixed. A reinvigorated London financial centre would be a fillip for professional services firms, suppliers and the wider hospitality and property ecosystems that depend on a thriving Square Mile. Yet the unmistakable subtext, that even the bluest of blue-chip lenders are willing to play hardball on tax — is a reminder that the post-Brexit settlement remains a work in progress, and that footloose capital will continue to test the limits of British competitiveness.
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JP Morgan reverses Brexit-era Paris move as London beckons trading roles back