Paris celebrates its post-Brexit financial successes

Emmanuel Macron shakes hands with JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon during the inauguration of the American bank's new French headquarters in Paris on June 29, 2021.

Two and a half years after the effective exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union (EU), there is no doubt, assures Vanessa Holtz, a Frenchwoman who heads the Paris office of Bank of America: “Paris is clearly a post-Brexit winning city. » A statement shared by the other banks which have chosen to strengthen their presence and now see Paris as a base for long-term development.

Read the decryption: Article reserved for our subscribers Finance: after Brexit, the City of London affected but not sunk

The competition was not won in advance: forced for regulatory reasons to elect a new home in the EU after Brexit to continue their activities there, a majority of large Anglo-Saxon establishments initially chose to distribute their forces between Dublin, Frankfurt, where the European Central Bank is located, their supervisory authority, Luxembourg, Amsterdam… But, then, the workforce largely settled in Paris.

Of 7,139 jobs gained by Ile-de-France in the wake of Brexit according to the count, drawn up at the end of January, by the consulting firm EY, 5,507 were jobs in financial services, from banking to insurance. by asset management, i.e. 77% of the total.

Bank of America employed only 70 people in Paris before the British referendum of 2016. The workforce there today reaches 650 people, of 49 nationalities. JP Morgan, the first American bank, has 860 jobs and 40 nationalities in the French capital, after the transfer in two phases of nearly 500 London positions.

The historic premises of JP Morgan, place Vendôme, being insufficient to accommodate newcomers, the majority are now based in a nearby building, place du Marché-Saint-Honoré… which could itself prove to be too small if recruitments are slow. continue at the current rate. The bank plans, among other things, to set up a new team dedicated to artificial intelligence in Paris.

“France is considered pro-business”

Goldman Sachs has increased its Parisian workforce from 70 in 2020 to more than 400 people today, housed since May 2022 in a 9,000 m² building on Avenue Marceau, with a breathtaking view of the Arc de Triomphe. These very central and highly rated addresses have facilitated the decisions of some employees, who would probably not have left the City so willingly for more distant or less prestigious districts.

Beyond localization, many emphasize the ” quality of life “ Parisian in the initial choice of the city to the detriment of Frankfurt, Dublin or Amsterdam, which were among the initial hypotheses.

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