London’s big City institutions and banks might be advised to think twice before trying this at home. In New York City, JPMorgan Chase is threatening to move thousands of employees to an office outside New York if it is not given a larger subsidy to build a 50-story skyscraper near Ground Zero, site of the 9/11 attacks in Manhattan, the New York Times reports.
City officials view the bank’s threat to relocate to Stamford, Connecticut, as the latest move in what has become a routine game of corporate poker in which companies try to extract special benefits from state and city governments. But the bank has been in touch with at least one large property owner in downtown Stamford, the Times reported, citing property executives and government officials involved in the talks.
New York state and city officials offered the bank the kind of benefit package available to any company moving to Ground Zero: a combination of tax breaks, cash payments and subsidised electricity benefits worth more than $100m. But Chase has continually pushed for a batch of subsidies akin to what Goldman Sachs gained in 2005 to build a headquarters in Battery Park City. Critics described that deal as an egregious example of corporate welfare, said the Times.
State and city officials have resisted the bank’s demands and regard the Goldman deal as an aberration. And Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said the city will not grant any special benefits beyond what any other company would get.