A stealth operation to setup camp in continental Europe. Since last year Bank of America has had an outpost in La Poste, an old postal and telegraph headquarters in Paris’ eighth arrondissement. JP Morgan has just bought a building nearby.
Two Wall Street heavy-weights pushing down roots in the city of lights, a signal that financial institutions are looking beyond London in a post Brexit Britain. So far 136 companies based in the UK have announced they are setting up shop in the Paris region, that’s about 5,500 jobs, two thirds of which are in finance.
For the organization responsible for promoting the city’s financial sector, its an encouraging sign. If Dublin and Luxembourg are more attractive for certain banking services, so far Paris has overtaken Frankfurt as a full bank solution to become Europe’s global financial center. But despite the liberal reforms of Emmanuel Macron’s government, the France’s capital is still far from being a serious competition for London.
The French authorities are keeping up their charm offensive, whether its in finance sector or in science. The Paris region in particular is hoping to entice the European meteorological research labs, which are currently based in UK.
