> JPMorgan Chase boss Jamie Dimon gave the go-ahead for a new 3-million-square-foot tower in London after a top adviser to Sir Keir Starmer flew to New York to offer assurances about the government’s business-friendly policies. The plans for the Canary Wharf building were only finalised last Friday after the prime minister’s business envoy Varun Chandra visited Dimon in New York, according to people familiar with the meeting. The visit came just days before chancellor Rachel Reeves announced £26bn of tax rises while resisting calls from her party to impose higher levies on banks.
> “The investment would probably not have been [announced] if this Budget had been seen as anti-prosperity and anti-financial services,” said one UK official familiar with the talks. “Dimon would not have been very positive.” JPMorgan revealed the plans for a new building at its Riverside development in Canary Wharf the day after the Budget, stressing that it would depend on “a continuing positive business environment in the UK”. The project could bring £9.9bn to the UK economy over the next six years, the bank has predicted.
> The Treasury had studied the idea of increasing Britain’s bank levy as it looked for alternative ways of raising revenues after ditching plans to increase income tax rates. Dimon has expressed frustration with the bank levy, according to people familiar with his thinking. The influential US banker has criticised the additional charge in private meetings in recent months and even called the levy “unethical”, they added. Banks in the UK pay a 28 per cent corporation tax rate, higher than the standard 25 per cent, as well as a separate levy on their UK balance sheets.
> A decision on whether to hit banks with higher taxes was “on a knife-edge” when Chandra travelled to New York last week, according to people familiar with the plans for a new building. Chandra has emerged as the frontrunner to replace Peter Mandelson as the UK’s ambassador to the US, the Financial Times reported last week.
The trip coincided with a birthday celebration hosted by JPMorgan at its new $3bn Manhattan offices last week in honour of King Charles III, though the British monarch was not in attendance.
Recommended A tax on banks, which have reported robust profits thanks to higher interest rates and heightened volatility in markets, was seen by some policymakers as an obvious lever to pull to bolster the UK’s finances. However, a significant last-minute lobbying effort by lenders helped dissuade the UK’s Labour government.
> Reeves sought to squeeze commitments from major banks in return for not proceeding with the levy, asking senior executives to make public and prominent endorsements of the fiscal plan.
While banks such as Barclays, Lloyds and HSBC did announce investment or financing pledges following the Budget, chief executives have largely remained silent on the government’s policies. However, Dimon issued a statement praising Reeves on Wednesday shortly after her speech.“The chancellor’s focus on financial discipline is something that the market should welcome,” he said. JPMorgan declined to comment.
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> JPMorgan Chase boss Jamie Dimon gave the go-ahead for a new 3-million-square-foot tower in London after a top adviser to Sir Keir Starmer flew to New York to offer assurances about the government’s business-friendly policies. The plans for the Canary Wharf building were only finalised last Friday after the prime minister’s business envoy Varun Chandra visited Dimon in New York, according to people familiar with the meeting. The visit came just days before chancellor Rachel Reeves announced £26bn of tax rises while resisting calls from her party to impose higher levies on banks.
> “The investment would probably not have been [announced] if this Budget had been seen as anti-prosperity and anti-financial services,” said one UK official familiar with the talks. “Dimon would not have been very positive.” JPMorgan revealed the plans for a new building at its Riverside development in Canary Wharf the day after the Budget, stressing that it would depend on “a continuing positive business environment in the UK”. The project could bring £9.9bn to the UK economy over the next six years, the bank has predicted.
> The Treasury had studied the idea of increasing Britain’s bank levy as it looked for alternative ways of raising revenues after ditching plans to increase income tax rates. Dimon has expressed frustration with the bank levy, according to people familiar with his thinking. The influential US banker has criticised the additional charge in private meetings in recent months and even called the levy “unethical”, they added. Banks in the UK pay a 28 per cent corporation tax rate, higher than the standard 25 per cent, as well as a separate levy on their UK balance sheets.
> A decision on whether to hit banks with higher taxes was “on a knife-edge” when Chandra travelled to New York last week, according to people familiar with the plans for a new building. Chandra has emerged as the frontrunner to replace Peter Mandelson as the UK’s ambassador to the US, the Financial Times reported last week.
The trip coincided with a birthday celebration hosted by JPMorgan at its new $3bn Manhattan offices last week in honour of King Charles III, though the British monarch was not in attendance.
Recommended A tax on banks, which have reported robust profits thanks to higher interest rates and heightened volatility in markets, was seen by some policymakers as an obvious lever to pull to bolster the UK’s finances. However, a significant last-minute lobbying effort by lenders helped dissuade the UK’s Labour government.
> Reeves sought to squeeze commitments from major banks in return for not proceeding with the levy, asking senior executives to make public and prominent endorsements of the fiscal plan.
While banks such as Barclays, Lloyds and HSBC did announce investment or financing pledges following the Budget, chief executives have largely remained silent on the government’s policies. However, Dimon issued a statement praising Reeves on Wednesday shortly after her speech.“The chancellor’s focus on financial discipline is something that the market should welcome,” he said. JPMorgan declined to comment.