Wall Street’s biggest bank has moved some of its European staff back to London as part of a post-Brexit climbdown.
JP Morgan is relocating workers from its Paris office after overestimating the number of staff needed on the Continent, six years after shifting services to the French capital following the UK’s exit from the European Union.
The relocation of staff marks JP Morgan’s latest rethink in its European operations. The bank’s chief executive, Jamie Dimon, has been a vocal critic of Brexit.
Mr Dimon warned in 2021 that the bank may eventually move all of its European operations out of London following the decision to leave the EU.
However, it has increased its total number of UK staff from 18,000 to 23,000 over the last decade after launching its consumer banking arm, Chase, in the UK.
The whole of JP Morgan employs 13,000 staff in London.
By contrast, it has more than 1,000 staff working in Paris, a figure that has quadrupled since Brexit but is still dwarfed by its number of London staff.
It is not clear how many staff are moving from Paris to London.
However, a spokesman for the bank told Bloomberg that it was “committed to our sizeable operations on the Continent for the long term”.
Mr Dimon, the bank’s long-serving chief executive, said in the run-up to the 2016 vote that the investment giant could cut up to 4,000 UK jobs if Leave won.
However, it later scaled back these estimates and said no more than 500 to 1,000 roles would move abroad.
A vocal backer of Remain before the referendum, Mr Dimon said that Brexit “cannot possibly be a positive” for the UK economy in the near term.
In his annual letter to shareholders in 2021, Mr Dimon wrote: “Brexit was accomplished, but many issues still need to be negotiated. And in those negotiations, Europe has had, and will continue to have, the upper hand.
“In the short run (ie the next few years), this cannot possibly be a positive for the UK’s GDP – the effect after that will be completely based upon whether the UK has a comprehensive and well-executed strategic plan that is acceptable to Europe.”
However, JP Morgan is preparing to bolster its presence in London by building the tallest skyscraper in Canary Wharf, which will become its new UK headquarters, housing up to 12,000 staff.
Meanwhile, Paris has become more of a financial hub since the Brexit referendum, with major international banks expanding their presence in France.
Goldman Sachs moved into a new 9,000 sq metres Paris headquarters in 2022, while Barclays announced earlier this year it was moving its European base to the French capital from Dublin.
The Euronext exchange in Paris has taken London’s crown as Europe’s largest stock market, although the City briefly regained the title in 2024.
JP Morgan declined to comment when contacted by The Telegraph.