Deutsche Bank seals deal with Land Securities for new London HQ

(Reuters) – Deutsche Bank has exchanged a pre-let agreement for its new City of London headquarters, the building’s developer Land Securities said on Tuesday.

The announcement confirmed details of the deal first reported in March, adding that under the 25-year lease agreement the German lender had committed to take a minimum of 469,000 square feet in the building at 21 Moorfields.

The building will provide Deutsche Bank, which employs around 9,000 people in Britain, with up to 50,000 square feet of workspace and the bank would retain flexibility over the amount of space it will occupy in the new building, it added.

Deutsche Bank’s discussions over the building were seen as a vote of confidence in the City of London’s standing as Britain prepares to leave the European Union.

However since then Germany’s biggest bank has indicated it may have to move thousands of jobs out of London after Brexit and shift a large part of its securities trading business to Frankfurt.

Land Securities, which also developed the Zig Zag building in Westminster where Deutsche Bank’s asset management and wealth management teams sit, said the deal was conditional on planning permission.