Barclays to hire 200 traders in Paris as City grapples with Brexit
BARCLAYS is planning to hire 200 new traders in Paris in the latest blow to the City of London in the wake of Brexit.
The British lender said it expects to increase its headcount in the French capital by two thirds over the next two to three years, as it increasingly becomes Europe’s main trading hub.
Francesco Ceccato, chief executive of Barclays Europe, said he believes the bank could generate enough business in Paris to add about 200 more staff by 2025 to 2026. It currently employs 300 people in the French capital.
Mr Ceccato told Bloomberg: “The need to keep hiring traders on the continent is obvious. Europe needs to develop its capital markets to reduce reliance on banks, so we have an opportunity to grow. Over the next few years, we wouldn’t be surprised if there were around 500 people working for Barclays in Paris.”
It comes after the European Central Bank (ECB) also engineered a raid on the Square Mile, telling lenders they must base staff in the EU if they are responsible for trading activity on the Continent after Britain left the bloc.
The ECB previously said it had identified 56 groups of traders who should be doing their jobs from within the EU following a lengthy investigation – known as its “desk mapping review” – into whether the institutions are seeking to dodge post-brexit regulation.
Goldman Sachs moved into a new Paris headquarters last year, with its headcount more than doubling in the country in recent years.
In March, Paris extended its lead over London as Europe’s largest stock market as companies continued to flee Britain. The London market is $250bn (£204bn) smaller than its French rival, according to data from Bloomberg, as fears grow that the London Stock Exchange (LSE) is losing its allure.
Last November, London was stripped of its crown as the largest centre for trading equities in Europe, after it was leapfrogged by Paris. Concerns about the City’s position were exacerbated in recent weeks when building material giant CRH became the latest company to leave the London stock market for New York, while British technology darling Arm also said it was shunning the LSE for its bumper listing.
The City watchdog has since announced plans to water down rules to make it easier for companies to list on the LSE. Meanwhile, investors sold a £2.7bn stake in the LSE yesterday as the group which runs it battles to revive the London market.
An investor consortium including US buyout giant Blackstone and Thomson Reuters offloaded the shares just months after it disposed of another $2bn in LSE stock.
Shares in the London Stock Exchange Group slumped more than 4pc, valuing the company at £46bn.
Thomson Reuters and Blackstone took a stake in the LSE after selling data company Refinitiv to the Uklisted exchange for £21bn in 2021. Barclays employs about 1,800 people across 10 countries in the European Union, compared to more than 40,000 in the UK. Its Paris operation is now nearly as large as its Dublin office.
At the end of 2022, the company had nearly 90,000 employees globally, according to its annual report.
Given its expansion plans in the French capital, Barclays plans to move into a larger Parisian office next year near the Arc de Triomphe.
Memos in the bank’s Paris office are in English and French and the company has hired external contractors to provide language lessons. Raoul Salomon, chief executive of Barclays France, told Bloomberg: “People do not see Paris as a short-term gig any more.”