BankTown Banking & Finance News

[KJHburg]

From Wells Fargo CEO about HQ location at the annual meeting 

as reported in the San Fran Biz Times on the exchange between the CEO and shareholder

""Specifically, Scharf was asked through a moderator reading questions, “When will the Wells Fargo headquarters be officially moved to New York City from San Francisco?”  The questioner noted that all the direct reports to the CEO, with the exception of three, are now on the East Coast. Two are in San Francisco and one is in Portland, Oregon.   “Furthermore, neither San Francisco nor California has been business friendly to the bank. Why not move?” the shareholder asked.   Those still hoping that Scharf, who is based in New York, would state a commitment – or otherwise – to keeping its headquarters in San Francisco are sure to be equally disappointed. 

“San Francisco is still very, very important to the company,” Scharf responded. “We have executives, and I’ll define the executives more broadly than the question was, in many locations around the United States.  “We have a hugely significant presence in North Carolina, for example, we have a hugely significant presence in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in Iowa, in Arizona, in parts of Texas, and other locations. We are representative of where there are significant populations around this country and that will continue.   “The importance of California to us is as strong as it ever was."

The question about Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) moving its headquarters out of San Francisco comes as some of the Bay Area’s most successful companies have relocated their headquarters from California in recent years, including Charles Schwab, McKesson, Oracle and Hewlett Packard Enterprise. All four left for Texas.""

all I can say about this is does not sound like a ringing endorsement of San Francisco in the long run. 

When will Wells Fargo HQ leave San Francisco? Here's CEO Charlie Scharf's answer. - Triangle Business Journal (bizjournals.com)

[SydneyCarton]

I see it moving to NY.  NY is the undisputed financial capital of the world, and it makes sense for a bank of this size to be based in NY.   NY's unparalleled role has swelled since Brexit, as it has no peers.  I also envision Wells being acquired by an investment bank at some point.

That being said, I can see them moving a lot more jobs to Charlotte.

Edited April 28, 2021 by SydneyCarton

[CLT2014]

Yeah I don't really see many changes for Charlotte in this whole thing. At the end of the day, most of the management team is based in New York City now with the CEO, Charlotte is the largest employment site (and will continue to get lots of jobs), and the HQ in name may stay in SF or may move to NYC. Either way, I don't see it moving "on paper" to Charlotte so our role continues as largest employment site. 

If he moved the HQ to Charlotte, he'd get the same question every shareholder meeting. "Why do you and the management team live in NYC, while you say the HQ is Charlotte? That doesn't make sense." For the CEO, best to just keep up with the same story of the roots being in San Francisco, the official HQ isn't that big a deal, and we have many important locations around the country as a national / global brand. 

Calling their presence here a "North Carolina" presence rather than a "Charlotte" presence also doesn't give me any optimism he'd be looking specifically at our city as HQ. At least Minneapolis got name dropped. 

Edited April 28, 2021 by CLT2014

[RANYC]

1 hour ago, CLT2014 said:

Yeah I don't really see many changes for Charlotte in this whole thing. At the end of the day, most of the management team is based in New York City now with the CEO, Charlotte is the largest employment site (and will continue to get lots of jobs), and the HQ in name may stay in SF or may move to NYC. Either way, I don't see it moving "on paper" to Charlotte so our role continues as largest employment site. 

If he moved the HQ to Charlotte, he'd get the same question every shareholder meeting. "Why do you and the management team live in NYC, while you say the HQ is Charlotte? That doesn't make sense." For the CEO, best to just keep up with the same story of the roots being in San Francisco, the official HQ isn't that big a deal, and we have many important locations around the country as a national / global brand. 

Calling their presence here a "North Carolina" presence rather than a "Charlotte" presence also doesn't give me any optimism he'd be looking specifically at our city as HQ. At least Minneapolis got name dropped. 

I'd agree.

I interpreted his response as: "who cares which office is titled HQ."  We've got major strategy initiatives underway, and this name-game is a trifle."  I think I agree with him.  

BofA is headquartered here, so a financial institution doesn't have to have its sights set on a NYC HQ.  Having said that, the BofA CEO lives in Mass, and commutes to NYC and Charlotte at his discretion.  I'm much more excited about homegrown AvidExchange IPO-ing than I am about the prospects of Wells Fargo naming its Charlotte presence an HQ.

Edited April 28, 2021 by RANYC

[SydneyCarton]

I agree.  The AvidExchange IPO will be a big deal.

[Madison Parkitect]

2 hours ago, SydneyCarton said:

I agree.  The AvidExchange IPO will be a big deal.

Gonna get a few more millionaires in town.

[Blue_Devil]

3 hours ago, Madison Parkitect said:

Gonna get a few more millionaires in town.

I mean, if it goes a similar route to Palantir or other newer tech companies we might actually get a few Billionaires...

[Madison Parkitect]

14 hours ago, Blue_Devil said:

I mean, if it goes a similar route to Palantir or other newer tech companies we might actually get a few Billionaires...

Yeah, I was thinking about that last night. If they hit their expected valuation I bet at least the CEO becomes a billionaire, possibly a couple others.

[KJHburg]

Charlotte is the fastest growing metro area with financial jobs. 

Charlotte Regional Business Alliance | Industry Spotlight: The Charlotte Region is the Fastest Growing Financial Hub in the Country

Though Phoenix is on our heels and actually has more jobs (they are a bigger metro area) most of their growth comes from California based firms expanding there in lieu of the Golden State.

and I believe there is a lot more to come. 

 

[atlrvr]

^^^ an interesting point is USAA is a TEXAS company expanding to Charlotte, not a company based in a high cost state.  That speaks to Charlotte's labor pool.

[CLT2014]

55 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

Charlotte is the fastest growing metro area with financial jobs. 

Charlotte Regional Business Alliance | Industry Spotlight: The Charlotte Region is the Fastest Growing Financial Hub in the Country

Though Phoenix is on our heels and actually has more jobs (they are a bigger metro area) most of their growth comes from California based firms expanding there in lieu of the Golden State.

and I believe there is a lot more to come. 

Charlotte finance jobs on average are a lot better than those in Phoenix. Jobs in Phoenix skew heavily towards contact center support, back end operations (check processing or wires), remote sales teams, and mortgage jobs like processing and centralized sales. American Express is on of the exceptions, also operating a tech center. Phoenix is one of the top cities, along with Las Vegas and Albuquerque, for securing bi-lingual Spanish speaking customer service reps without being in California. The good paying jobs in Phoenix are more in engineering (Honeywell Aerospace, Boeing, et.), semi-conductors (Intel, et.), healthcare, and higher education (ASU, Apollo, et.).  

Edited June 24, 2021 by CLT2014

[KJHburg]

Goldman Sachs seems to ready to major expand into Dallas.  I wonder if they looked at Charlotte as they are the financial partners with Lincoln Harris on the Legacy project.  Wonder if we could get a slice of these jobs they adding in Dallas?

Goldman Plans New Dallas Campus, Extending Bet on Hub in Texas | Wealth Management

[RANYC]

1 hour ago, KJHburg said:

Goldman Sachs seems to ready to major expand into Dallas.  I wonder if they looked at Charlotte as they are the financial partners with Lincoln Harris on the Legacy project.  Wonder if we could get a slice of these jobs they adding in Dallas?

Goldman Plans New Dallas Campus, Extending Bet on Hub in Texas | Wealth Management

The article mentions a Vanguard Group expansion to Dallas.  On this message board, I recall reading about Vanguard plans to expand to Charlotte and perhaps build a presence in Loso.  Does the Dallas plan have anything to do with a rumored Charlotte one?

If a wall street bank is going to move portions of its front office out of NY, I suppose it makes sense to look at the center of the country.  In-person meetings will remain important for servicing major deals/strategic transactions, and a Dallas-to-SFO flight time makes more sense than a CLT-to-SFO flight, if you're going to consider alternative locations to NYC.  Once upon a time, Chicago would have made sense here but Dallas seems to have the advantage these days. 

[KJHburg]

In terms of Vanguard I hear about an expansion here  is on then I hear it is off.  But here's a fact they have 437 job openings worldwide and 116 of them are posted in Charlotte. This is a big tech center for the suburban Philadelphia based firm.  59 jobs posted in Scottsdale AZ 20 jobs posted in Dallas almost all tech jobs.  They are still growing in Charlotte put what it means for future office space needs I do not know anymore except they had big plans for LoSo station at one point.  This recent new office in Dallas could have been the expansion for here but not sure.  

 

Edited June 30, 2021 by KJHburg

[TGIBridays]

3 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

In terms of Vanguard I hear about an expansion here  is on then I hear it is off.  But here's a fact they have 437 job openings worldwide and 116 of them are posted in Charlotte. This is a big tech center for the suburban Philadelphia based firm.  59 jobs posted in Scottsdale AZ 20 jobs posted in Dallas almost all tech jobs.  They are still growing in Charlotte put what it means for future office space needs I do not know anymore except they had big plans for LoSo station at one point.

 

My sister works for Vanguard and at the beginning of the year she was saying her department has been considering staying WFH and that she's being allowed to hire people to her team anywhere in the country who will work remotely.  So I'm sure that would put a wrinkle in their LoSo office plans. Though that doesn't mean they won't change their mind and want to bring everyone back to an office.

[KJHburg]

updates of some local Fin-tech employers who yet to have permanent space in town.

VaroMoney out of San Fran is advertising 28 jobs here in Charlotte. Not official announcement of an office here but.....

Careers | Varo Bank: Join the bank on a mission (varomoney.com)

MUFG Union Bank which is mainly hiring in the tech area has 116 open jobs here in Charlotte and they are operating out of Wework uptown.  

Search our Job Opportunities at MUFG Union Bank, N.A. (mufgamericas.com)

In other news I heard The Line the Portman tower may have an anchor tenant not sure whom but somebody.

Big bank openings Wells Fargo has 477 open positions in Charlotte and Bank of America has 497 jobs in Charlotte open.

 

[KJHburg]

Better.com an online mortgage company based in NYC came to Charlotte 2 years and said it would create 1000 jobs here in 5 years.  They are at 1000 jobs in 2.  

And they are looking to locate an office uptown which is great!

""The firm plans to set up a new campus strategy in Charlotte. The office will be within the Interstate 277 beltway, likely in the uptown area, Clark said. Better.com wants employees to have access to public transportation. She declined to give further details but noted that all employees are scheduled to be in the office by January 2022.""

Plenty of available space options for space uptown   old BofA Plaza at the Square, Charlotte Plaza, 101 Independence Center to name a few.

Better.com hits 1,000 employees in Charlotte - Charlotte Business Journal (bizjournals.com)

[KJHburg]

In a story about hiring a new diversity chief for MUFG local operations this tidbit on their growth and what they do here in Charlotte.

""MUFG (NYSE: MUFG) continues to grow its presence in Charlotte. It opened an office at 615 South College in uptown about two years ago, pledging to add 300 jobs and create an eastern U.S. hub. MUFG has exceeded those hiring goals with additional positions added in engineering and risk management. Its website has well over 100 open positions posted for Charlotte.

MUFG's local office is for middle- and back-office teams that support clients. It does not have a retail or commercial sales presence here. MUFG's U.S. operations reported total assets of $331 billion as of March 31. Its subsidiaries are MUFG Union Bank, which operates more than 300 branches, and MUFG Securities Americas.""

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group hires local Wells Fargo executive to lead diversity, inclusion efforts - Charlotte Business Journal (bizjournals.com)

[Blue_Devil]

In case people didn't know Ally has already brought a lot of their workforce back. Wells is going to be bringing back their entire uptown workforce starting in October 3 days a week (Employees pick which three days with a strong emphasis of not taking both Friday and Monday as work from home). BOA is starting to bring people in now too.  

[CLT2014]

On 7/28/2021 at 3:43 PM, Blue_Devil said:

In case people didn't know Ally has already brought a lot of their workforce back. Wells is going to be bringing back their entire uptown workforce starting in October 3 days a week (Employees pick which three days with a strong emphasis of not taking both Friday and Monday as work from home). BOA is starting to bring people in now too.  

Friend is at Ally, said they shifted course this week and you must attest to being vaccinated to be on site and unvaccinated employees will not be allowed to return until further notice.

He said maybe 100 people have been  opting to come into the new office per day out of 2,000+ Charlotte area employees.

Will be interesting to see if the uptick in cases causes other banks to slow reentry plans. 

Edited July 30, 2021 by CLT2014

[KJHburg]

Good news Bank of America is donating 10,000 Chromebooks to CMS.

""Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) is donating 10,000 Chromebooks to Mecklenburg County students and their families. Distribution begins on Thursday with the help of E2D, the city of Charlotte, the county, Novant Health and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. More than 90% of the recipients are racially or ethnically diverse, BofA said. The bank is also promising 10,000 employee volunteer hours this year for tutoring and mentoring students. The Chromebooks are an approximately $6 million investment from the bank, said Kieth Cockrell, Charlotte market president at BofA.""

from Biz Journal

Bank of America, E2D and others distributing 10K laptops to Mecklenburg County students - Charlotte Business Journal (bizjournals.com)

[CLT2014]

Truist is pushing back return to work out to October or November due to delta variant. Employees already in the pilot can continue coming in, but they won't bring other employees back after Labor Day.

[RANYC]

3 hours ago, CLT2014 said:

Truist is pushing back return to work out to October or November due to delta variant. Employees already in the pilot can continue coming in, but they won't bring other employees back after Labor Day.

For the sake of uptown retail/small-business vibrancy, I'd really like to see people back to in-person working - even if it's just 3-4 days a week.  

[KJHburg]

Hmm in news from Dallas about Wells.

""The Irving City Council is set to meet behind closed doors Thursday to discuss economic development negotiations regarding Project Falcon.  According to sources familiar with the matter, Project Falcon is a code name that Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) has been using locally for at least two years while it looks for office space. It is not uncommon for large companies to use code names during these types of searches. Though the city council work session agenda provides no other information about Project Falcon, sources familiar with the matter say Wells Fargo is looking for a build-to-suit site that could accommodate a few hundred thousand square feet. A footprint this large could mean thousands of employees.  It's not clear what Wells Fargo's current office footprint looks like in North Texas. A company representative did not immediately respond to an inquiry from the Dallas Business Journal Tuesday.  “Project Falcon is one of more than 100-plus active projects the Irving Economic Development Partnership continues to work to bring home, as well as retain and/or expand in Irving-Las Colinas,” Beth Bowman, president and CEO of the Irving Economic Development Partnership, told the Dallas Morning News in an email.""

from Dallas Biz Journal

Where in Irving-Las Colinas could Wells Fargo be planning a big office? - Dallas Business Journal (bizjournals.com)

view from San Fran and the San Fran Biz Journal

Update: After this story was published, Wells Fargo said: "We have no plans to move our headquarters."

Wells Fargo is reported to be on the hunt for a large new office in North Texas. Dubbed "Project Falcon," the search is giving a lift to persistent speculation that the bank’s headquarters could one day move out of San Francisco. Wells is looking at several sites in the Irving-Las Colinas area of Dallas-Fort Worth, according to the Dallas Business Journal, which notes that the Irving City Council is set to meet behind closed doors Thursday to discuss economic development negotiations regarding Project Falcon. Wells is said to have been looking at Dallas real estate for at least two years as it seeks a build-to-suit site for a few hundred thousand square feet of offices that’s expected to house thousands of employees, the paper reported.  Speculation that the bank's headquarters could be on the move also has been fueled in the last few years by Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf and much of the C-suite now being based in New York, while its largest concentration of employees is in Charlotte, North Carolina.  When I asked Wells this week about plans for a Dallas regional office and whether it involved a headquarters move, the bank simply told me, “We don’t have anything to share.”    Wells Fargo’s commentary about keeping its headquarters in San Francisco, the city it has called home since 1852, has gradually grown less definitive. Every time the rumors flare anew, I check back about them. In April 2020, the bank told me, “Wells Fargo will continue to be headquartered in San Francisco.” But by December 2020, the bank’s response became more of a statement of fact as of the moment: “Wells Fargo continues to be headquartered in San Francisco.” Now the bank simply has nothing to say on the headquarters question.

Could Wells Fargo’s ‘Project Falcon’ land bank’s headquarters in Dallas? - San Francisco Business Times (bizjournals.com)

Lets see could be a routine consolidation of space in the Dallas Fort Worth markets or could it be something else?   Las Colinas is home of many Fortune 500 companies and some HQs.  Dallas half way between San Fran and Charlotte.   Has me to wonder.  

and to the fact someone mentioned a rumor about a California based F500 looking at moving its HQ to Charlotte but could be any number of companies 

Edited August 5, 2021 by KJHburg

[atlrvr]

I highly doubt they move their HQ to Dallas.  I do think they would use a Dallas office to move many corporate jobs out of S.F. though.