Goldman Sachs Hints At Possible London Exit On Twitter

There have been a number of global banks, leading financial companies and asset managers who have not been happy with Brexit as these firms all have an established presence in London which is recognized as the leading global financial hub.

With Britain preparing to cut ties with the European Union and moving forward a hard Brexit, these financial institutions are concerned about their future in London as they will lose out on their passporting rights to offer financial services across EU borders.

Many of these financial firms have started looking at alterative locations for a possible relocation. Goldman Sachs has a massive presence in London employing close to 6,000 people.

Wochit News

Chief executive Lloyd Blankfein has criticized the Brexit move from the start and recently took to Twitter to provide a glimpse into what could be a possible relocation to Frankfurt, Germany.

Just left Frankfurt. Great meetings, great weather, really enjoyed it. Good, because I'll be spending a lot more time there. #Brexit

— Lloyd Blankfein (@lloydblankfein) October 19, 2017

Blankfein tweeted that he had enjoyed Franfurt’s weather and had great meetings in the city. He ended his tweet by saying it was a good experience overall and that he plans to spend a lot more time in Frankfurt going forward.

Blankfein does not spend a lot of time on Twitter and hence his tweet about Frankfurt has caused market analysts to speculate about a potential Goldman Sachs move to Frankfurt.

The Wall Street firm had announced earlier this month that it had leased office space in Frankfurt that could accommodate close to one thousand employees. Goldman Sachs currently employs around 200 employees in Frankfurt and engages in investment banking services, asset management and trading. Goldman Sach’s co-head in Germany Wolfgang Fink said that the bank was looking to quadruple its headcount in Frankfurt and is also considering an expansion in Paris, France.

Goldman Sachs is not the first and will not be the last bank or financial firm to contemplate a possible relocation from London. Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and Standard Chartered have all announced that they would expand their offices and ramp up their headcount in Frankfurt
which looks like they have a backup plan in case things don’t work out in London.

The Prime Minister’s office in the UK played down these rumours of a mass exodus of financial firms from London. A representative from the PM’s office said

London is and will remain the world's leading financial centre. We have the breadth of talent, legal system, regulation and deep pools of capital that are simply unrivalled by centres in Europe.

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