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22/08/2012

Slimmed-down banks tighten belts on real estate

Simon Wainwright, Managing Director of JPW, has been quoted in an article by Reuters.

The article discusses the pressure Europe’s banks are under to cut balance sheets and many are reconsidering the cost of occupying prime locations in Europe’s financial centres. Simon Wainwright has been quoted as saying

“London-based banks are more hamstrung than their rivals as many are locked into leases of 25 years or more, more than twice the typical length in mainland Europe. Leases signed today, however, would more likely be for 10 to 15 years as banks want to keep their options open.”

In times past “Nat West built a skyscraper in the shape of its logo, and the words ‘Midland Bank’ are still emblazoned in stone on its former London building…The psychology was different when banks did these sorts of things. The thought they would be around forever”.

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