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JPMorgan weighs London HQ choices as it outgrows Canary Wharf tower, sources say

JPMorgan is evaluating options for its European head office in London as the fastexpanding Wall Street bank outgrows its existing tower in London's Canary Wharf monetary district, 3 sources familiar with the matter informed Reuters.

The bank has actually begun examining alternatives for where to base around 12,000 personnel in London, with a choice most likely to be made some time after U.S. personnel move into their brand-new global headquarters in New York next year, the sources stated.

JPMorgan's European headquarters has actually been at 25 Bank Street since 2012, after it obtained the tower from collapsed competitor Lehman Brothers following the international financial crisis.

The deliberations by the world's biggest bank in London will be seen carefully by the residential or commercial property industry.

Like other U.S. investment banks, JPMorgan under CEO Jamie Dimon has actually been one of the most strident in pushing for staff members to go back to the office after the COVID-19 pandemic. That, combined with growing headcount at the bank and its British retail subsidiary Chase UK, has increased the urgency of requiring more area.

Its current office at Bank Street, a 33-storey tower with 1.1 million square feet, is complete up, among the sources said.

The bank could require as much as 1.5-2.0 million sq feet of area in London in future, another of the sources said.

JPMorgan is thinking about three choices - updating 25 Bank Street, developing a new tower in Canary Wharf on land it currently owns, or relocating to main London - the sources stated.

Nevertheless, leaving Canary Wharf is the least likely option provided the sheer amount of office space required, 2 of the sources stated.

The bank has begun drawing up strategies to spend possibly numerous countless pounds updating its existing office, 2 different sources stated.

No final decisions have actually been made and any move might take years to execute, the sources said, speaking anonymously while going over private plans.

JPMorgan and Canary Wharf Group, which handles the east London financial district, decreased to comment.

(source: Reuters)