Good morning.
The question of which city would take the crown as Europe’s financial hub from the City of London has gripped European capitals ever since Brexit spelled the end of London’s full integration in the European Union. If Goldman Sachs is the arbiter, it’s clear that Paris is the frontrunner.
This week, the investment bank announced that its top European banker, Dirk Lievens, would trade London for Paris, and with the move, Goldman’s banking team in Paris would expand significantly.
The reason? “The whole financial ecosystem in Paris is enormous,” Lievens told me on the phone this morning, referring to France’s largest financial companies—BNP, AXA—and its (alternative) asset managers such as Amundi and fintech players like Worldline. Lievens estimates that about 25% of Europe’s financial players by market cap or assets under management are concentrated in Paris, a far larger share than any other continental European city.
Prior to Lievens’s move, several other managing directors in Goldman’s financial industry group had transferred to Paris, since Goldman’s EMEA strategy under CEO David Solomon has been “to go to where the clients are.” Several other Goldman offices in Europe—Frankfurt, Munich, Milan—have also mushroomed under the firm’s client-oriented strategy, becoming hubs for industrial, telecom, and natural resources clients.
Lievens’s arrival, the banker told me, signals that Goldman wants “to build a full pyramid in Paris, from junior to senior.”
“My move is symbolically and strategically important,” he said. Ideally, “a quarter to a third of our staff will be in Paris in the medium to longer term.”
The relocation of Goldman’s top banker is not an isolated event. Many of the largest global banks based in the U.S., including J.P. Morgan, Citi, and Bank of America, have recently expanded in Paris at the expense of London, attracted by more business-friendly policies under President Emmanuel Macron. Overall, 5,500 finance jobs recently moved from London to Paris.
While Paris will no doubt get another mini-boost from Goldman’s top banker’s embrace of it, London is still the barometer for Europe’s financial sector. Earlier this year, France backed London in its bid to remain the banking hub for euro-denominated trades. And even at Goldman, Lievens told me that “London will remain our largest hub by far” in EMEA.
More news below.
Peter Vanham
peter.vanham@fortune.com
@petervanham
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