BankTown Banking & Finance News

[SydneyCarton]

8 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

news from San Fran Business Times and it is not rosy about Wells and their "HQ" in San Fran.   I still think they need to announce the new HQ will be in Charlotte which is less than 2 hours to NYC by plane and most of their deposits and customers are east of the Mississippi now too.   They are worried in Cali and they should be most of these scandals originated there.  Not to mention the cost of doing business here in NC is a fraction of that in Cali and most non customer facing jobs should move out of the state.  

""San Francisco Business Times
Feb 11, 2020, 2:46pm PST Updated Feb 11, 2020, 3:19pm PST
Wells Fargo’s restructuring Tuesday included the hiring of another JPMorgan Chase executive who, like CEO Charlie Scharf, will remain based in New York.  Wells said Mike Weinbach will join the bank as CEO of consumer lending in early May....

I think that Goldman Sachs will acquire Wells since they want to diversify.  While any combined entity would be based in NY, Charlotte would get a lot of jobs due to the regional proximity to NY.

[Blue_Devil]

26 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

I think that Goldman Sachs will acquire Wells since they want to diversify.  While any combined entity would be based in NY, Charlotte would get a lot of jobs due to the regional proximity to NY.

What? Wells Fargo is worth 3 to 4 times as much as Goldman....

[CLT2014]

This announcement just reduces the power of the most powerful Wells Fargo exec based in Charlotte. Mary Mack loses leadership of the revenue producing consumer lending businesses and her scope reduces to branch operations and deposits gathering. Charlotte didn't really gain anything in the re-structuring. 

Edited February 12, 2020 by CLT2014

[turbocraig]

3 minutes ago, CLT2014 said:

This announcement just reduces the power of the most powerful Wells Fargo exec based in Charlotte. Mary Mack loses leadership of the revenue producing consumer lending businesses and her scope reduces to branch operations and deposits gathering. Charlotte didn't really gain anything in the re-structuring. 

So we maybe didn't gain a headquarters so much as lost a "hubquarters"?  Or now we're one of several hubquarters where before we were it?

[SydneyCarton]

22 minutes ago, Blue_Devil said:

What? Wells Fargo is worth 3 to 4 times as much as Goldman....

But Goldman is the marquee name and has the more profitable business line.

[SydneyCarton]

This list is flawed.  Charlotte should replace SF.

https://www.thefinancialstreet.com/top-20-financial-cities-2019/

 

[Rufus]

8 hours ago, SydneyCarton said:

This list is flawed.  Charlotte should replace SF.

https://www.thefinancialstreet.com/top-20-financial-cities-2019/

 

Finance isn't just for banking. Think stocks, investments, futures, venture capital, etc. San Francisco has that in spades vs. Charlotte, mainly bc that city has long been a major business center. I'm more interested to see LA on this list, and to see Chicago so low. Chicago is a major agricultural finance center -- see the Chicago Board of Trade. 

I believe Charlotte is growing in this respect, especially if some of these larger investment management companies (Vanguard, etc) continue to eye the city. 

[SydneyCarton]

6 minutes ago, Rufus said:

Finance isn't just for banking. Think stocks, investments, futures, venture capital, etc. San Francisco has that in spades vs. Charlotte, mainly bc that city has long been a major business center. I'm more interested to see LA on this list, and to see Chicago so low. Chicago is a major agricultural finance center -- see the Chicago Board of Trade. 

I believe Charlotte is growing in this respect, especially if some of these larger investment management companies (Vanguard, etc) continue to eye the city. 

I know.  I’m biased.

[KJHburg]

the number of bank branches is going DOWN in Charlotte from a JLL report.

Metro market 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Number Percent
Atlanta 1,399 1,383 1,361 1,337 1,313 1,294 1,284 1,225 1,203 1,173 (30) (2.5%)
Austin 470 466 468 476 476 467 467 448 438 442 4 0.9%
Baltimore 833 822 813 802 770 747 728 711 682 667 (15) (2.2%)
Boston 1,517 1,522 1,516 1,526 1,540 1,516 1,527 1,523 1,516 1,508 (8) (0.5%)
Bridgeport, CT 416 411 409 399 388 382 368 360 353 354 1 0.3%
Charlotte 579 581 573 562 550 549 543 534 520 506 (14) (2.7%)     Charlotte has 506 branches in 2019 vs. 579 in 2010 and will shrink further with the Truist branch consolidation 
Chicago 3,228 3,209 3,183 3,148 3,031 2,972 2,863 2,765 2,710 2,636 (74) (2.7%)
Cincinnati 813 808 803 788 771 764 754 740 718 699 (19) (2.6%)
Cleveland 702 722 731 720 707 691 679 642 638 621 (17) (2.7%)
Columbus 585 596 587 585 565 567 564 546 538 538 0 0.0%
Dallas–Fort Worth 1,812 1,740 1,731 1,738 1,729 1,718 1,711 1,672 1,659 1,615 (44) (2.7%)
Denver 733 719 715 694 684 670 657 650 647 634 (13) (2.0%)
Detroit 1,157 1,146 1,133 1,117 1,083 1,043 1,049 999 974 945 (29) (3.0%)
Hartford, CT 391 397 392 394 396 382 377 372 368 345 (23) (6.3%)
Houston 1,558 1,534 1,530 1,526 1,514 1,493 1,482 1,450 1,420 1,417 (3) (0.2%)
Indianapolis 639 640 636 610 585 575 553 546 534 522 (12) (2.2%)
Jacksonville 325 320 311 310 318 320 317 312 291 277 (14) (4.8%)
Kansas City 776 782 769 753 722 715 714 705 691 694 3 0.4%
Los Angeles 2,423 2,461 2,482 2,498 2,507 2,477 2,456 2,422 2,405 2,354 (51) (2.1%)
Miami 1,626 1,619 1,655 1,665 1,651 1,646 1,619 1,582 1,549 1,502 (47) (3.0%)
Milwaukee 604 585 577 578 554 550 552 511 490 484 (6) (1.2%)
Minneapolis–St. Paul 872 861 855 843 827 821 815 790 785 770 (15) (1.9%)
Nashville 590 589 593 598 602 595 598 591 578 573 (5) (0.9%)
New York–Newark 6,043 6,057 6,001 5,971 5,905 5,855 5,735 5,634 5,509 5,135 (374) (6.8%)
Orlando 618 611 612 601 584 580 570 546 535 522 (13) (2.4%)
Philadelphia 1,924 1,917 1,889 1,833 1,783 1,765 1,732 1,702 1,659 1,629 (30) (1.8%)
Phoenix 942 933 928 913 900 889 867 851 815 798 (17) (2.1%)
Pittsburgh 878 876 873 871 853 838 825 818 802 786 (16) (2.0%)
Portland, OR 572 580 590 583 563 557 546 536 521 509 (12) (2.3%)
Raleigh-Durham 441 443 439 426 424 424 423 416 405 408 3 0.7%
Richmond 373 369 362 360 345 350 347 325 317 302 (15) (4.7%)

[KJHburg]

I had not seen this updated list of JPMorgan Chase bank branch locations in Charlotte from a CBJ article today.

""Two more local branches are set to open later this year. Those are in south Charlotte at Pineville-Matthews Road and Arboretum View, and in Cornelius at Catawba Avenue and West Jetton Road. Other branches are planned in Blakeney at Rea and Ardrey Kell roads; Huntersville at Sam Furr Road and Lindholm Drive; Charlotte at Park and East Woodlawn roads; and the University area at North Tryon Street and J.W. Clay Boulevard, according to filings with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. In February, JPMorgan Chase also filed a permit with the city's land development services for another branch in west Charlotte at 3053 Freedom Drive.""

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2020/03/26/jpmorgan-chase-us-bank-keep-eye-on-covid-19.html

[Mgelbach]

17 hours ago, KJHburg said:

I had not seen this updated list of JPMorgan Chase bank branch locations in Charlotte from a CBJ article today.

""Two more local branches are set to open later this year. Those are in south Charlotte at Pineville-Matthews Road and Arboretum View, and in Cornelius at Catawba Avenue and West Jetton Road. Other branches are planned in Blakeney at Rea and Ardrey Kell roads; Huntersville at Sam Furr Road and Lindholm Drive; Charlotte at Park and East Woodlawn roads; and the University area at North Tryon Street and J.W. Clay Boulevard, according to filings with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. In February, JPMorgan Chase also filed a permit with the city's land development services for another branch in west Charlotte at 3053 Freedom Drive.""

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2020/03/26/jpmorgan-chase-us-bank-keep-eye-on-covid-19.html

It sounds like they're going all out in Charlotte, I guess they didn't want everyone moving from up north switching to BofA or WF down here.

[CLT2014]

12 minutes ago, Mgelbach said:

It sounds like they're going all out in Charlotte, I guess they didn't want everyone moving from up north switching to BofA or WF down here.

You have to go all out... or you might as well not do it at all. "Hi, come bank at Chase. We have 2 branches and 6 ATM's over the entire county. Any other ATM will cost you $2.5 + the ATM owners fee. YAY!" Hence if you have fee policies like that you have to have a comprehensive network to make it compelling to switch banks. The other alternative is you drop the fees or partner with a network like Allpoint. 

Edited March 27, 2020 by CLT2014

[KJHburg]

I will only bank with banks headquartered in NC, or employ 20,000 plus people here or took over a bank that used to be based here.  Sorry Chase you don't meet any of my criteria. 

[U_R_]

Atlanta has been a real mess right now with banks... 

Cough cough every bank trying to steal customers from Truist cough cough 

[KJHburg]

CBRE in their 1Q Charlotte market report states that 50% of the total office space in leased by financial firms.  However this is much more diversified between 4 largest bank's footprints Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Truist and Ally.  Other big financial firms that have lots of space would be TIAA, Vanguard, US Bank, Lendingtree, several mortgage companies etc.  

This is why I tell people in other cities this is the reason Charlotte has such large and tall buildings we have users that require lots of space. 

[Blue_Devil]

I heard Vanguard might move to Southend

[DH17]

1 hour ago, Blue_Devil said:

I heard Vanguard might move to Southend

This has been a rumor to varying degrees for a while now, I believe this is tied to the Econ Dev thread as well.

Wonder if they are the 2nd half of the Spectrum development or South End's new tallest across the street? Who knows with the pandemic but if they are serious and it's not Spec, I wonder if either could still start by the end of this year.

[KJHburg]

5 hours ago, Blue_Devil said:

I heard Vanguard might move to Southend

I am just a simpleton as some say but I have heard the same thing but I am sure the market gyrations here of late have given them pause but they are really growing and their tech operation is huge here.  

[Blue_Devil]

5 hours ago, DH17 said:

This has been a rumor to varying degrees for a while now, I believe this is tied to the Econ Dev thread as well.

Wonder if they are the 2nd half of the Spectrum development or South End's new tallest across the street? Who knows with the pandemic but if they are serious and it's not Spec, I wonder if either could still start by the end of this year.

Heard LoSo

[Cadi40]

13 hours ago, Blue_Devil said:

Heard LoSo

If that’s the case then the taller version of LoSo Station may be in the works.

Edited April 26, 2020 by Cadi40

[J-Rob]

Didn't they already revise the LoSo Station plans to be taller?

https://beacondevelopment.com/properties/building/3852/loso-station

[Madison Parkitect]

5 minutes ago, J-Rob said:

Didn't they already revise the LoSo Station plans to be taller?

https://beacondevelopment.com/properties/building/3852/loso-station

I think at that time it was speculative as to whether it would actually be taller or not, depending on the tenant. Now people are guessing that if a company Vanguard's size took that building they'd need the taller version.

[KJHburg]

Well very interesting what I saw in today's  San Francisco Business Times about Wells Fargo and their HQ

title of article      WHY A WELLS FARGO HQ RELOCATION OUT OF S.F.  COULD BE A TIMELY MOVE

from the subscriber article"

""The San Francisco bank’s largest employment center has blossomed in Charlotte since it bought troubled Wachovia Bank in 2008. More recently, the bank’s power base has left San Francisco under the leadership of new CEO Charlie Scharf, who is based in New York.

“It would almost be malfeasance if Wells Fargo executives did not consider leaving California,” John Boyd Jr., principal at The Boyd Co., a site selection consulting firm in Princeton, N.J, told me. “One of the big stories in the business cycle over the past several years has been the dramatic migration of wealth and business from high-tax states like California, New Jersey, New York and Connecticut to lower-tax states.”

Since Scharf took the helm at Wells last October, he’s brought on board several senior executives, most of whom are based in New York or Charlotte. 

I asked Wells Fargo Thursday whether the bank has plans to move its headquarters from San Francisco, and if not, what factors are keeping its home base here. 

“Wells Fargo will continue to be headquartered in San Francisco,” a Wells Fargo spokesman said. “The company has a nationwide footprint, a nationwide customer base, and a workforce of 263,000 dedicated to serving our customers and communities during these challenging times and beyond.”

But a corporate headquarters move for Wells Fargo could simply be a matter of issuing a press release announcing its new hometown, a fact that holds true for several Bay Area-based  companies   “The corporate headquarters is one of the most mobile areas of the corporate structure today,” Boyd said.   But even if a headquarters relocation is no longer a big ordeal, it’s still a big deal. 

“Companies no longer view the headquarters as simply housing its talent and real estate," Boyd said. "They view the headquarters site selection process as an opportunity to rebrand the company and recalibrate its image in the marketplace.”  Wells Fargo is eager to “recalibrate its image” as it seeks to recover from a series of scandals that first came to light in 2016 when the bank agreed to regulatory fines for opening deposit and credit accounts without customers’ authorization.

So if Wells were to move its headquarters, I asked Boyd where he thought the bank’s headquarters would land: Charlotte or New York?

“Charlotte makes a lot of sense,” Boyd said. “North Carolina is on a roll, with Charlotte being one of the most successful banking markets today.”

Boyd cited Charlotte’s lower-tax environment, business-friendly climate and international air connections as all factors making the nation’s second-largest banking center an attractive option.

The Bay Area has long been a high-cost, highly regulated place to do business, with three Fortune 500 companies in the last year moving or announcing plans to move their headquarters from the Bay Area: Charles Schwab, McKesson and Core-Mark Holding Co. All three companies moved to the Dallas region as part of a larger Bay Area exodus.

But Boyd cautions that now Covid-19 will play a role in the headquarters-location calculus.  "Covid-19 has put a spotlight on how uniquely vulnerable major cities are with compromising ‘continuity of operations’ — those are big buzz words in site selection today,” Boyd said, adding that he’s seeing new momentum for suburban expansions and relocations.

Then there’s the burden of Covid-19 on densely populated regions like the Bay Area, and the bills that come with fighting the virus.

“The sad reality is that California, New York and New Jersey will emerge from this Covid-19 crisis in budget-crisis mode,” Boyd said. “There’s discussion of a federal bailout. A lot of companies don’t like that type of uncertainty.  “One of the concerns among our clients in states that have been heavily hit by Covid-19 is tax increases,” Boyd said, adding that public-pension obligations are now getting extra attention in site selection decisions.  “That’s why a lot of lower-tax states with positive business climates have been so successful in increasing the number of corporate headquarters, because it’s in line with fiscal prudence to be headquartered in a state that’s not in a fiscal crisis.”

“There are silver linings to a post-Covid-19 environment,” Boyd said. “One of those will be a return to back to basics. Positive state business environments will matter. It will be more difficult to camouflage high tax situations in a post-Covid 19 environment.”""

https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2020/04/30/why-a-wells-fargo-headquarters-relocation-out-of-s.html

My thoughts:  time for the stagecoach to head east for a new outlook, shake the west coast oriented problems, closer to NYC and most of the customer base with lower cost office space in a fast growing lower tax and cost of living city and yes that would be the Queen City! 

Edited April 30, 2020 by KJHburg

[KJHburg]

Interesting insight into office space needs and financial firms in the post pandemic world.  Basically there could be a lot less office space needed but having more people work from home than in the past.   This would have major implications for Charlotte since financial firms occupy approx. 50% of our office space.

https://www.nreionline.com/office/banks-not-returning-skyscrapers-anytime-soon-staley-says

My comments:  BofA Plaza will have about 300K sq ft of vacant office space in early 2021 when BofA's lease ends.   Perfect for US Bank and they could rename the tower and be much more prominent and leave the Truist Bank owned Truist Tower.    the current Ally Bank building on S Church will have approx. 150K sq ft available when they move to the new Ally Center.    Of course Duke will move to their new tower sell their old building on S Church (probably be demo'ed) but they lease most of 400 South Tryon so it will be interesting to see what happens there.  Lots of shuffling in the next 1-3 years but I think not as much construction other than that which is ongoing now this is my thoughts.    Constant and continued economic recruitment needs to continue to attract new financial firms and HQs which take up generous amounts of space.   

One thing about this article is they are interviewing and talking to banks and financial firms in the highest of high cost cities of NY, London and Hong Kong with JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Barclays, Citigroup etc.    (perhaps as I think those banks will move more of their space needs to less expensive markets and decrease their space in those high cost cities)

 

Edited May 1, 2020 by KJHburg

[DMann]

I have a belief that if office space needs decline, residential will increase in downtown high rises.  If you work from home and your home is downtown you can still get to the core city for meetings, etc easily.