Deutsche Bank’s 25-year deal for City HQ

DEUTSCHE Bank has signed a 25-year commitment for a new London headquarters, in a move that will inject confidence into the capital’s financial markets as the negotiations around Brexit continue.

The bank has signed a deal to occupy a building in Moorgate currently being developed by Land Securities, called 21 Moorfields. Deutsche will take a minimum of 469,000 sq ft (44,000 sq m) of space within the 564,000 sq ft building, with an option to expand at a later date. As well as being in the centre of the Square Mile, the location will benefit from a new Crossrail station.

Around 5,000 employees are expected to move to the new office when development is completed in 2023. Deutsche Bank employs about 8,575 people across the UK, but it is unclear whether the remaining staff will move to other locations or stay in some of its existing buildings. The bank had already spoken of its desire to consolidate its London staff under one roof, and it had an existing relationship with Land Securities because its asset management and wealth management divisions are in another of the firm’s buildings in south-west London.

News that Deutsche was in talks to take the building emerged in March, when an internal memo sent to staff was seen by The Daily Telegraph.

There had been fears that some large City institutions would start to move staff away from the UK to establish a base within the EU after Brexit.