BankTown Banking & Finance News

[Desert Power]

Or course, some of these employers may actually need more stpace to enforce social distancing. 

[CLT2014]

1 hour ago, DMann said:

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.

Hmmm... I almost wonder if the opposite will occur. If you only have to go to the office once per week, you might tolerate a longer commute for the limited times you do it and move further out. Especially families with kids hunting for larger homes and land. Union County and Fort Mill would likely benefit due to good public schools and accelerate CMS family flight (many deal with CMS to avoid 1 hour+ commutes). Why cram into a 1960's split level if commute isn't really a concern anymore? 

People that work from home might get stir crazy and want more open space than being in a high rise apartment with 600 square feet.

Regardless, will be interesting to see how everything changes. 

Edited May 1, 2020 by CLT2014

[tozmervo]

WFH became popular with banks during the recession, but that popularity faded with time. I think that will happen again. People keep acting like it's the next great thing, but it's really not. 

[CLT704]

3 minutes ago, tozmervo said:

People keep acting like it's the next great thing, but it's really not. 

This. Potentially unpopular opinion but I hate working from home and much prefer going into the office. At home, it’s much more difficult to separate work and personal; at the office, at least when I leave I am pretty much done for the day. There’s also a social element, I like my coworkers and enjoy getting to see them: working from home is kinda lonely. 
 

I do think there is going to be greater flexibility with working from home being more common but I don’t think it will replace going into offices. What I do think this pandemic has taught companies is that you don’t need to travel; things like zoom  has shown that meetings can been done virtually so I think business travel may take a hit. 

[Matthew.Brendan]

The whole mental architecture of "work" needs to shift for WFH to be efficient.

Personally the "proof is in the pudding".

[KJHburg]

I work from home 75% of the time and joined Wework to go into an office LOL.  I think the trend of densification of office space is OVER and larger higher cubicle walls may come back.  Things are going to change and some firms are already asking architects about new spacing needs and brokers to look for more space.    This benefits Charlotte I think as our space is so much cheaper than the west coast markets and of course DC, Boston and especially Manhattan! 

[kermit]

21 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

 I think the trend of densification of office space is OVER

Its not really a trend, there are huge volumes of research and many years of practice that show clustered knowledge-sector workers are much more productive than dispersed or remote workers. 

Dispersing offices will reduce GDP growth measurably.

Edited May 1, 2020 by kermit

[KJHburg]

4 hours ago, kermit said:

Its not really a trend, there are huge volumes of research and many years of practice that show clustered knowledge-sector workers are much more productive than dispersed or remote workers. 

Dispersing offices will reduce GDP growth measurably.

No I was meaning having office workers crammed into office space.  I agree people need to be in offices just not on top of each other.  Average office space per worker has really decreased in the last few years from 300 sq ft per worker to like 150 sq ft per worker or even less.  I am saying that trend of cramming people in like sardines is probably over.  

Edited May 1, 2020 by KJHburg

[a2theb]

2 hours ago, CLT704 said:

What I do think this pandemic has taught companies is that you don’t need to travel; things like zoom  has shown that meetings can been done virtually so I think business travel may take a hit. 

It won't. Clients will still want staff on site and companies will still want to have face time with prospective clients/suppliers/JV partners etc. Of course, this is coming from a professional services perspective. Sure, other industries may pivot a bit but in terms of PSFs, there will always be travel. 

[SydneyCarton]

11 hours ago, KJHburg said:

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)

 

One thing that's crazy about that article is that JP Morgan Chase is in the process of building a new 1,500' tower that will be valued at around $6b and they've bought and will demolish several other adjacent buildings for a campus.  Similarly, Morgan Stanley is on the hunt for a new 2m s.f. tower.  Thus, the comments by its CEO are puffery to get a good deal from the developers who court it. 

Finally, the European banks cited in that article are in utter disarray and aren't in a position to anchor new super-luxury towers.   Deutche Bank and HSBC will be lucky if they're not swallowed up by Citi or some other U.S. financial institution.

Covid-19 won't change banks' demand for space any more than 9/11, SARS, or MERS did.   Nonetheless, Charlotte will still hopefully attract more investment.  Why put a staff lawyer or staff accountant, etc. making $175,000 per year in space in NY that costs $150/sf, when you can cut their pay to $125k/year and move them to space in Charlotte that costs $30/sf?   Frankly, Jamie Dimon, Brian Moynihan,  Charles Scharf, etc. aren't leaving NY, but they may send John Doe, Esq. to Charlotte in a year, and he'll be very happy to come and live a much easier life.  It was a good move for me and my family to come to N.C. twelve years ago.

Edited May 2, 2020 by SydneyCarton

[joenc]

3 hours ago, a2theb said:

It won't. Clients will still want staff on site and companies will still want to have face time with prospective clients/suppliers/JV partners etc. Of course, this is coming from a professional services perspective. Sure, other industries may pivot a bit but in terms of PSFs, there will always be travel. 

What if travel is less available or is unsafe? https://www.axios.com/future-air-travel-coronavirus-bcee181c-1d3a-4305-992d-053d5c80a909.html

Big companies will have their own jets of course.

[atlrvr]

MUFG looks like they are expanding beyond IT and Risk.  In the last couple of days they've been posting for a variety of middle-office jobs supporting the corporate loan origination and syndication business.

 

[KJHburg]

^^^ Just did a quick search of available jobs with various banks for Charlotte 

found 63 open  jobs with MUFG as @atlrvr mentioned above

Wells Fargo has 375 open jobs in Charlotte vs. 45 in San Francisco vs. 68 in Des Moines vs. 148 in Minneapolis and their  HQ is in San Fran???

Bank of America has taken lots of jobs off their board but both NYC and Charlotte 2 top spots.

currently there seems to be 198 employees at MUFG working in temporary space

and 197 for Better.com online mortgage broker in Charlotte   

 

 

[atlrvr]

Curious what counts are for Truist, Ally, and US Bank.  I suspect more Ally jobs in Charlotte than Detroit.  Less optimistic that US Bank is bigger In Charlotte than Minneapolis, but I bet we're in top 3 or 4 metros is you take out branch jobs.

I also heard a rumor that Wells has been relocating some/most of their principal investing group (including the head) to Charlotte from S.F.  Not sure if anyone here knows and can confirm, but if so, 1) jobs in that group are very high dollar jobs avg way north of $500k, 2) would be strong indicator of the center of influence.....this is not Treasury jobs, these would be more strategic, higher risk investing of bank capital

[KJHburg]

^^^ Ally Bank advertising 49 jobs in Charlotte and in their so called HQ in Detroit just 18

Charlotte is has been the de facto HQ of both Wells and Ally in my mind.     45 jobs in San Fran's Wells HQ city vs 375 in Charlotte! 

 

[U_R_]

Truist Financial has selected TSYS in a deal which will see the latter provide its processing capabilities for the bank’s consumer, commercial, and small business credit card portfolios.  TSYS is providing its TS2 processing platform on top of its card and statement production capabilities. Brad Strock, executive vice president for card and direct to consumer lending at Truist, says that the decision to select TSYS aligned with the commercial bank’s “commitment of creating better financial experiences." TSYS had an existing agreement with SunTrust prior with the merger that created Truist

 https://www.fintechfutures.com/2020/05/truist-financial-selects-tsys-for-payments-processing/

Doesn't TSYS/GP have a decently large presence in Charlotte? You could maybe see them adding some new employees since Truist will become a very important client of theirs.

 

[Desert Power]

1 hour ago, Ric0_0 said:

Truist Financial has selected TSYS in a deal which will see the latter provide its processing capabilities for the bank’s consumer, commercial, and small business credit card portfolios.  TSYS is providing its TS2 processing platform on top of its card and statement production capabilities. Brad Strock, executive vice president for card and direct to consumer lending at Truist, says that the decision to select TSYS aligned with the commercial bank’s “commitment of creating better financial experiences." TSYS had an existing agreement with SunTrust prior with the merger that created Truist

 https://www.fintechfutures.com/2020/05/truist-financial-selects-tsys-for-payments-processing/

Doesn't TSYS/GP have a decently large presence in Charlotte? You could maybe see them adding some new employees since Truist will become a very important client of theirs.

 

I'd think so, BofA uses them.

[Blue_Devil]

So two pieces of news I heard yesterday. Both come from pre-Covid decisions so take it with a grain of salt.

1. Vanguard IS (decision made pre-Covid) going to LoSo. Obviously this may change but that was told to me from a very senior person at the company.

2. JPM Chase wants to build a tower in uptown. They now have 300 employees across NC with some pretty rapid hiring goals. The NC goal is to “drive a stake through BoA” and “embarrass them on their home turf.” The guy I was talking to seemed to think it would be an impressive statement making tower.  
 

not sure what I make of #2 but they did open their first Charlotte Chase branch across from BoA

[Guest]

7 minutes ago, Blue_Devil said:

So two pieces of news I heard yesterday. Both come from pre-Covid decisions so take it with a grain of salt.

1. Vanguard IS (decision made pre-Covid) going to LoSo. Obviously this may change but that was told to me from a very senior person at the company.

2. JPM Chase wants to build a tower in uptown. They now have 300 employees across NC with some pretty rapid hiring goals. The NC goal is to “drive a stake through BoA” and “embarrass them on their home turf.” The guy I was talking to seemed to think it would be an impressive statement making tower.  
 

not sure what I make of #2 but they did open their first Charlotte Chase branch across from BoA

1. Would have been announced by now, but Covid.

2. Interesting, I could see it. We will see about Covid.

[KJHburg]

21 minutes ago, Desert Power said:

I'd think so, BofA uses them.

They have an office in Ballantyne but don't think its huge.

[KJHburg]

24 minutes ago, Blue_Devil said:

So two pieces of news I heard yesterday. Both come from pre-Covid decisions so take it with a grain of salt.

1. Vanguard IS (decision made pre-Covid) going to LoSo. Obviously this may change but that was told to me from a very senior person at the company.

2. JPM Chase wants to build a tower in uptown. They now have 300 employees across NC with some pretty rapid hiring goals. The NC goal is to “drive a stake through BoA” and “embarrass them on their home turf.” The guy I was talking to seemed to think it would be an impressive statement making tower.  
 

not sure what I make of #2 but they did open their first Charlotte Chase branch across from BoA

1. very likely as Vanguard employs 1200 plus here already and they have a rapidly growing IT division here.  Lots of rumors from lots of people.  Remember when Beacon came up with the larger taller plan of office space at LoSo Station?  

2. If Mr Jamie Dimon wants to stick it to BofA on their home turf,  then move 1000s of jobs here and anchor a tower.  Nobody is going to build a tower here with as few employees as they have in this market.  Prove it JP Morgan Chase move lots of jobs here and then you can take BofA on.  And Truist, and Wells and Ally and US Bank all which have more employees here in Charlotte than JPMorgan Chase does.    (Love to see it happen as it benefits Charlotte but I see no huge movement of their jobs to Charlotte)   Tell Mr Dimon we are a lot cheaper to operate in than NYC too.   

[U_R_]

Just a quick question for y’all Charlotte folks.... do you know if BofA is trying to steal market share from Truist in Atlanta kind of like JP Morgan ? They rolled out their “100 Years in Atlanta” slogan/campaign late last year I think and it’s all over their bank branches and I’ve heard it quite a few times on the radio too.

[KJHburg]

45 minutes ago, Ric0_0 said:

Just a quick question for y’all Charlotte folks.... do you know if BofA is trying to steal market share from Truist in Atlanta kind of like JP Morgan ? They rolled out their “100 Years in Atlanta” slogan/campaign late last year I think and it’s all over their bank branches and I’ve heard it quite a few times on the radio too.

Not heard that but I guess BofA 100 years in the ATL includes Citizens and Southern Bank that merged with Sovran bank of VA then was swallowed up by Nationbank/Bank of America I think that is how it happened.  Truist maybe a new name to ATL as it is to NC but the Trust Company of Georgia who merged with Sun Bank of Florida to form SunTrust has some great history too.  in their bank vaults for many years was the recipe for Coca-Cola.     I do hope Truist does a little museum like the 2 other big banks in Charlotte a quote heritage center I find those interesting as a non bank employee history buff.

 

[KJHburg]

speaking of JP Morgan Chase 2 new branches announced today in Harrisburg and Gastonia.

""New York-based JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM) is planning two new branch locations in the Charlotte region, according to filings with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The two sites are at the northeast corner of Cox Road and East Franklin Boulevard in Gastonia and at the southeast corner of Harrisburg Veterans Road and North Carolina Highway 49 in Harrisburg.  Both will be JPMorgan Chase's first retail branches in Gaston and Cabarrus counties.""

1st metro branch uptown of course, coming soon to Arboretum in south Charlotte, Cornelius, Blakeney, Huntersville,  Park and Woodlawn, University Place, Freedom and Alleghany and Rock Hill all these were previously announced.   They are coming to play for sure and with all the people from states where Chase is big like Jersey, NY, south Florida they do have a customer base here.

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2020/05/19/jpmorgan-chase-continues-local-branch-rollout.html   subscriber story

[KJHburg]

Interesting what this article says

""Major banks, including Morgan Stanley, Barclays and JP Morgan Chase, which collectively housed 20,000 employees in 10 million sq. ft. of office space in New York pre-lockdown, are considering the notion of a geographically distributed workforce, according to The New York Times. Research firm Nielsen, which has leases coming up for renewal, has announced that its 3,000 employees can continue working from home and plans to convert its New York offices to team meeting spaces, The New York Times reports.""

I cant think of a better place NY centric banks than Charlotte.  2 hour flight away. Lower costs huge pool of financial workers.  Morgan Stanley come on down.  Barclays we have flights to London too and you used to have a division based here uptown called Barclays American at 201 S Tryon come back down,  JP Morgan Chase you want to take on BofA on their home turf.  Move oh 500 jobs here anchor a building and have your name up in lights in uptown Charlotte.  

https://www.nreionline.com/office/will-remote-working-spell-demise-office-sector

Edited May 23, 2020 by KJHburg