HSBC Holdings PLC is seeking office space in technology-focused London neighborhoods, including Shoreditch, to bolster its fintech capabilities, according to two people with knowledge of the move.
Europe’s largest bank hired real-estate broker CBRE Group Inc to find 4,600m2 of space, almost the same size as a US football field, in areas including Old Street and Shoreditch, the people said.
The neighborhoods are home to a cluster of startups and a nexus of hipster culture.
The office would be focused on digital growth at the bank, the people said.
HSBC would join other firms that already operate technology-focused offshoots in east London neighborhoods, such as Barclays PLC’s so-called fintech accelerator in Whitechapel.
While the bank in February decided to keep its headquarters in London rather than move back to Hong Kong, where it was founded, it is expanding out of its 45-floor skyscraper in Canary Wharf.
HSBC plans to move 1,000 retail bank workers to Birmingham, Britain’s second-biggest city, to cut costs and separate its UK consumer operations from the investment bank.
A spokeswoman for the bank declined to comment on the lender’s expansion plans.
Banks have traditionally kept their research and development in-house, building proprietary systems behind closed doors to shield them from the competition.
However, as the cost of developing new technologies rises and more nimble startups pioneer new ways to bank, many established lenders are becoming more open to external partnerships.
Citigroup Inc, Banco Santander SA, UBS Group AG, Wells Fargo & Co, and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA are among about two-dozen financial giants hosting accelerators, hackathons and competitions to bring startups to their doors.
Some, such as Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC, have dedicated floors for digital development, with markedly different decor and dress codes to attract younger staff that would otherwise gravitate toward the technology industry.
Rents for the best office space in Shoreditch are about ￡65 (US$85) a square foot (0.92m2) annually, compared with about ￡47.50 in the Docklands and ￡70 in the City of London financial district, according to data compiled by broker Jones Lang LaSalle Inc.
Additional reporting by staff writer
SEEKING CLARITY: Washington should not adopt measures that create uncertainties for ‘existing semiconductor investments,’ TSMC said referring to its US$165 billion in the US Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) told the US that any future tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors could reduce demand for chips and derail its pledge to increase its investment in Arizona. “New import restrictions could jeopardize current US leadership in the competitive technology industry and create uncertainties for many committed semiconductor capital projects in the US, including TSMC Arizona’s significant investment plan in Phoenix,” the chipmaker wrote in a letter to the US Department of Commerce. TSMC issued the warning in response to a solicitation for comments by the department on a possible tariff on semiconductor imports by US President Donald Trump’s
‘FAILED EXPORT CONTROLS’: Jensen Huang said that Washington should maximize the speed of AI diffusion, because not doing so would give competitors an advantage Nvidia Corp cofounder and chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) yesterday criticized the US government’s restrictions on exports of artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China, saying that the policy was a failure and would only spur China to accelerate AI development. The export controls gave China the spirit, motivation and government support to accelerate AI development, Huang told reporters at the Computex trade show in Taipei. The competition in China is already intense, given its strong software capabilities, extensive technology ecosystems and work efficiency, he said. “All in all, the export controls were a failure. The facts would suggest it,” he said. “The US
The government has launched a three-pronged strategy to attract local and international talent, aiming to position Taiwan as a new global hub following Nvidia Corp’s announcement that it has chosen Taipei as the site of its Taiwan headquarters. Nvidia cofounder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday last week announced during his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei that the Nvidia Constellation, the company’s planned Taiwan headquarters, would be located in the Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei. Huang’s decision to establish a base in Taiwan is “primarily due to Taiwan’s talent pool and its strength in the semiconductor
French President Emmanuel Macron has expressed gratitude to Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) for its plan to invest approximately 250 million euros (US$278 million) in a joint venture in France focused on the semiconductor and space industries. On his official X account on Tuesday, Macron thanked Hon Hai, also known globally as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), for its investment projects announced at Choose France, a flagship economic summit held on Monday to attract foreign investment. In the post, Macron included a GIF displaying the national flag of the Republic of China (Taiwan), as he did for other foreign investors, including China-based
RSS