Goldman Sachs to have EU hubs in Paris and Frankfurt post-Brexit

Goldman Sachs is to split its post-Brexit home between two European cities, Frankfurt and Paris.

Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein revealed the plans in an interview with French newspaper Le Figaro, adding that it will be up to the staff to decide where they want to move to from London.

He has visited Frankfurt and Paris over the past few weeks as the Wall Street bank pushes ahead with its plans to cope with Britain’s exit from the EU.

He has recently posted a number of pointed tweets about Brexit, starting in Germany when he said: “Just left Frankfurt. Great meetings, great weather, really enjoyed it.

“Good, because I’ll be spending a lot more time there.”

Then, he expressed his delight at Paris’s “positive energy”, adding: “Strong govt and business leaders. And the food’s good too!”

Meanwhile on Thursday he tweeted about the “hand-wringing” of Brexit chief executives in Britain and all but called for a second referendum.

Mr Blankfein told Le Figaro: “We will have more employees on the continent. Some, if they want to, would come from London, we will hire others.

“But we won’t have a single hub, but two - Frankfurt and Paris... Brexit pushes us to decentralise our activities.

“In the end, it’s the people who will largely decide where they prefer to live.”

London is currently home to most of Goldman Sachs’s European operations, where it has around 6,000 employees.

But the bank needs to ensure it will still be able to serve EU clients once Britain leaves, which may limit access to the EU’s single market.

Mr Blankfein said the bank was approaching the time when it needed to make decisions and that it was preparing for different scenarios.

He also hoped Brexit negotiators would come to an agreement about what a transition period would involve after Britain officially leaves the EU in 2019.

France has stepped up efforts to attract London banks preparing for Brexit to Paris after the election of President Emmanuel Macron, who has begun to make labour law more flexible.

But the Wall Street bank is also still investing in London where it still expects to fill new European headquarters currently under construction.