JPMorgan in talks for Dublin office

Bloomberg

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is in talks to buy a Dublin office building as the bank considers expanding in the Irish capital as one of its options for when Britain leaves the European Union, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
The lender is negotiating the potential purchase of a building in Dublin’s Capital Dock that’s being developed by a venture between Kennedy Wilson Holdings Inc. and Ireland’s National Asset Management Agency, the people said, asking not to be identified because the plans are private. The building, at 200 Capital Dock, has about 130,000 square feet (12,000 square meters) of space, the people said. That’s enough for more than 1,000 workers.
“Other options are still very much on the table. We want to see how negotiations progress,” JPMorgan said in a statement, reiterating comments made two weeks ago. “No final decisions have been made.” NAMA and Kennedy Wilson declined to comment.
UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s plan to pull Britain out of the European single market has prompted international banks and insurers to begin looking to move jobs to other EU countries. Estimates for the number of people who could move range from 4,000 to over 200,000.
“Banks can’t wait two years or more for a deal to be struck on passporting or equivalence,” Bruce Dear, head of London real estate at law firm Eversheds Sutherland International LLP, said by phone.
“They have got to be putting contingency plans in place now.”
Most banks are relocating as many as 1,000 workers initially to cities including Dublin, Madrid and Amsterdam with Paris and Frankfurt lower down the list, Jefferies Group LLC analyst Mike Prew said by email. More banks will relocate workers in the coming two years, he said. Dublin is among the locations being considered by JPMorgan for an enlarged EU hub following the Brexit vote. Before the June 23 referendum, CEO Jamie Dimon told UK staff that as many as 4,000 people could be relocated in the event of Brexit.