Jamie Dimon says JPMorgan may rethink London office if Starmer ousted

JPMorgan Chase may reconsider a planned multibillion-dollar office tower in London if U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is ousted, the bank’s CEO, Jamie Dimon, said on Wednesday.

Speaking to Bloomberg in Paris, the head of America’s biggest bank by assets said that while a change in leadership would not alter JPMorgan’s fundamental strategy, it could force the lender to rethink its future in the U.K. capital.

JPMorgan announced late last year that it would build a new 3 million-square-foot tower in London’s Canary Wharf financial district to house up to 12,000 employees and serve as its U.K. headquarters. Construction is expected to take six years, during which time JPMorgan will also renovate its existing building on London’s Bank Street.

At the time of the announcement, JPMorgan said its plans for the new building were “subject to a continuing positive business environment in the U.K. and the receipt of the necessary approvals and agreements at a national and local level.”

Asked on Tuesday if the political instability gripping Britain changed his view on the mega project in London, Dimon responded that if a new government was “hostile to the banks, then yes.”

Dimon criticized the tax burden that the bank already faces in the U.K., telling Bloomberg JPMorgan had already paid $10 billion in “additional taxes” related to the construction project.

JPMorgan currently employs more than 20,000 people in the U.K., 13,000 of whom are based in London. The bank said in November that its construction and office upgrade projects would contribute an estimated £9.9 billion ($13.4 billion) to the U.K. economy and create more than 7,800 jobs in the coming six years. Its existing operations in London are estimated to contribute £7.5 billion a year to the local economy.

Starmer’s leadership is hanging in the balance, after his party’s poor performance in the U.K.’s local elections last week led to widespread demands from lawmakers for his resignation. As of Tuesday morning, 90 members of Parliament from the governing Labour Party have called on the prime minister to step down, while more than 100 signed a statement backing Starmer to stay put.

A backlash against Starmer’s Labour Party saw huge gains for the right-wing Reform UK party and the left-wing Green Party in last week’s poll.

But bond vigilantes have largely been supportive of Starmer and his finance minister, Rachel Reeves, retaining their positions relative to potential alternatives, with U.K. bonds — known as gilts — selling off in previous bouts of uncertainty over their political futures.

On Tuesday, gilts sold off across the curve amid the political turmoil. By Wednesday morning, they were rallying as investors reacted to Starmer’s defiance of calls for his resignation.

For his part, Dimon threw his support behind Starmer and Reeves in Tuesday’s interview.

“I think Keir Starmer’s a very smart guy,” he told Bloomberg. “Politics is very tough. They’re in a bind because of debts and deficits, they inherited a lot of that, I think the world of Rachel Reeves, and they’ve got to be tough. They’ve got to say ‘we’re going to do these things [that] in the short term may not be great,’ but governments have to get the stuff done right that grows the economy.”

He also praised Starmer’s approach to repairing the U.K.’s strained post-Brexit relations with the European Union.

“I think they need to work closer with Europe. If you remember, Keir Starmer and [French President Emmanuel] Macron, they were going to work closer,” he said. “Not reversing Brexit, but military alliances, intelligence alliances, making sure the economies have economic relationships that are good for both the continent and good for the U.K.”

Starmer is set to meet Health Secretary Wes Streeting on Wednesday morning, ahead of a speech from King Charles III in Parliament outlining the government’s agenda. During a routine Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the prime minister said he would see his five-year mandate through.

Without Starmer’s resignation, a Labour leadership challenge — which would determine Starmer’s fate as leader of the governing party — can only be triggered if 20% of Labour MPs support a challenger. Currently, that means 81 Labour MPs would need to back a potential replacement.