The Map Magazine

Speculations are high that American Bank JP Morgan may move its official European Headquarters from its planned site at Riverside South in Canary Wharf to several locations in the city of London.

JP Morgan had initially bought land for development at the Canary Wharf in November 2008, costing nearly £237m. The purchase agreement between the bank and the land owners had a stipulation that the Bank could back out of the agreement anytime before the end of 2010. However, if the Bank were to choose such an option then it would have to pay a penalty of £76m. The current value of the property owned by JP Morgan is close to £1.5b but despite this high value, it is considering leasing out property or moving to other developing sites.

Jamie Dimon, Chief Executive, JPMorgan was the first to question this decision to go ahead with the Canary Wharf property, largely because of his anger towards the changes in the development scheme, which included reducing tax on bonuses. This move of the government made banking as well as other institutions to reconsider their decision to move into properties in London. JP Morgan is also considering leasing out several offices within London to house its employees.

Experts believe that in the long run JP Morgan will definitely benefit, at least monetarily from a London rent desk space as against their owning and building property in Canary Wharf. However, the dearth of appropriate property in the financial area of London for housing the several thousand workers of JP Morgan could well play a decisive role in whether JP Morgan actually foregoes its Canary Wharf property or not.