JPMorgan may scrap £3bn London HQ if UK hostile to banks

Jamie Dimon, chairman and chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, warned on Tuesday that the bank could abandon plans for a £3 billion headquarters tower in London's Canary Wharf if the UK government adopts policies hostile to banks. Speaking during the bank's Global Markets Conference in Paris in a Bloomberg TV interview, Dimon distinguished between political instability and specific policy risks.

"Not political instability, but if they become hostile to banks again, yes," Dimon said. He added that the bank had paid about £10 billion in extra taxes in the UK since the financial crisis, despite not damaging the economy. "I don't think that's right or fair. If that happens too much we will reconsider."

The proposed skyscraper, spanning three million square feet, would house more than half of JPMorgan's 23,000 UK employees, up to 12,000 workers, and rank among Europe's largest office developments and London's third-tallest building. Announced last November shortly after Chancellor Rachel Reeves' Autumn Budget avoided new taxes on banks, the six-year project is projected to contribute £10 billion to £11.55 billion to the local economy and create 7,800 construction jobs. The bank has...