US banks announce UK expansion projects hours after budget
JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs reveal plans for London and Birmingham as the sector is spared tax rises Two of Wall Street’s biggest banks have announced substantial expansion plans in the UK, hours after they were spared increased taxes in Rachel Reeves’s autumn budget. JP Morgan on Thursday revealed plans to build a 3m sq ft tower in Canary Wharf, which will serve as its new UK headquarters and house more than half of its 23,000 UK staff. It is understood that the London project will cost £3bn. The US rival Goldman Sachs said it would expand its Birmingham office and hire 500 staff, in a move that would more than double its workforce in the city. Banks dodged a tax raid in the chancellor’s budget, having lobbied hard against a higher levy that lenders argued could force them to curb lending and cancel out the benefits of regulatory reforms meant to spur growth. Reports emerged this week that the Treasury had asked the sector to issue supportive statements a...