According to the Bloomberg report, Citigroup, one of the largest global financial services providers, wants to increase its presence in France by building a new trading floor. That marks Wall Street's giant step to adapt to European market changes after Brexit , which remodeled the local financial markets' conduct rules.
Citigroup Grows Its Paris Presence
Citigroup is set to double its staff in Paris as it plans to create a new trading floor in its current building. The trading division will increase its workforce to 250 from the current 130, as the new floor is expected to include at least 85 desks. Fabio Lisanti, who oversees the bank's trading business across Europe, excluding the UK, revealed that the building is conveniently located steps away from the Champs-Élysées and the Arc de Triomphe.
Losanti moved to Paris in March and will be responsible for transferring more employees to the new European trading floor. However, Citigroup plans to sustain its central trading hub in London City, moving just some of the risk books and risk management operations to the Old Continent.
Citigroup's recent office upgrade in Paris is not just limited to trading, as the firm has also expanded its team by hiring private and commercial bankers. The total number of Citigroup employees in Paris increased to 400 at the end of last year from 170 right after Brexit.
Big Banks Moving to Paris
Following decades of using London as a gateway to Europe's market, Citigroup is among many US financial firms now expanding their operations on the continent or opening offices to retain access to the local clientele.
With its pool of local traders, many of whom were trained at top universities in France, Paris has become a crucial hub for banks and their trading desks. These traders have often been involved in designing and structuring some of the most intricate derivative products at companies like Societe Generale SA and BNP Paribas SA.
The debate regarding which city in Europe can become a continental competitor to London after Brexit has been going on for more than five years. Alongside Paris, Germany's Frankfurt appears to be the second place that could attract the most companies from the banking and trading sectors.
JPMorgan was already looking at Paris in 2017 as a potential location to relocate some of its staff after Brexit. Goldman Sachs put its bet on France in 2022 as a stock trading hub to host its operations regulated under the MiFID II .
According to The Guardian, more than 7,000 jobs in the financial sector were relocated from London to Europe as a result of Brexit. Paris attracted the most posts (2,800), followed by Frankfurt with 1,800 and Dublin in third place with 1,200.
In one of its most recent announcements, Citigroup revealed that Itay Tuchman, the Global Head of Foreign Exchange at Citigroup Inc., plans to leave the New York-headquartered multinational investment bank and financial services corporation. The information obtained from a memo by Reuters suggests that Stuart Staley, who currently serves as the Head of Markets & Securities Services for the Asia Pacific (APAC) region, will take over the role previously held by Tuchman.
