I am intrigued by the rapid development of West Kowloon, which seems to be Hong Kong’s version of Canary Wharf. The FT reports today that both Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley have signed up to move across Victoria Harbour from central Hong Kong to the new International Commerce Centre (ICC). Other investment banks may follow.
London’s financial district is now divided between the City and Canary Wharf (and Mayfair , if you count hedge funds) and New York’s between the Wall Street district and midtown. Something about financial centres seems to make them split into different districts. I suppose cheap rents – as West Kowloon is offering and Canary Wharf used to – often lures financial institutions to a new spot.
If anything, however, Wall Street appears to be reconsolidating downtown after its move up to midtown in the 1990s. JP Morgan Chase’s investment bank plans to move to one of the five skyscrapers planned for the old World Trade Center site and Goldman Sachs’s new headquarters will also be located nearby. It seems a fair bet that at least one other bank will move to the WTC site.
All in all, it feels as if banks such as Morgan Stanley and Lehman Brothers, which are still firmly attached to Midtown, could start to feel a bit lonely.
