The city of love in their hearts merchants | miscellaneous | 05.10.2022

Even Deutsche Bank has a soft spot for Paris. Because Brexit has made Paris a trading hub that Germany’s largest bank moves merchants there.

France and its capital, Paris, seized the opportunity after Brexit and made themselves attractive to the commercial departments of international banks and finance houses. It seems to have been a huge success: even Deutsche Bank has now begun settling European credit merchants in Paris. This is an unusual move for the German lender and underscores the growing importance of the French capital as a European financial center in the post-Brexit era, Bloomberg News reports.

Many merchants now work and live in Paris
The Frankfurt bank has moved part of its flow credit trading desk from Maine to the Seine, fewer than a dozen traders according to current plans, head of state Frank Krings explained in an interview. The decision was made due to the large talent pool in Paris.

“Practically all of our relevant competitors have chosen Paris as the lending location for their business,” Krings said. “Putting yourself apart from key clients and related talent would be an odd decision.”

Deutsche Bank’s decision not to house its Europe-facing staff in Frankfurt shows how much Paris has benefited from the UK’s decision to leave the European Union. Global investment banks such as JPMorgan Chase & Co and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley from its Paris operations.

While Deutsche Bank moved most of its post-Brexit activities to Frankfurt, Paris’ status as a trading hub was the main reason the institution housed some loan dealers there, Krings said in the interview. He said the city has a good graduate pool thanks to its world-class universities and is also an “attractive place to live” for more experienced workers. (aa)