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Lloyd Blankfein: Goldman Sachs CEO takes to Twitter to hint at Brexit job moves to Frankfurt

Like many other global banks with a strong presence in London, Goldman has already indicated that it is preparing to relocates a portion of UK staff to the continent after Brexit

Josie Cox
Business Editor
Thursday 19 October 2017 14:21 BST
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The chief executive of Goldman Sachs has dropped a strong hint on Twitter that his bank is looking to expand its presence in Frankfurt as a direct result of Brexit.

Lloyd Blankfein, one of Wall Street’s best known financiers, on Thursday tweeted: “Just left Frankfurt. Great meetings, great weather, really enjoyed it. Good, because I'll be spending a lot more time there. #Brexit.”

Mr Blankfein, who has been the CEO of Goldman Sachs since 2006, appears to have joined Twitter back in June 2011, but only sent what looked to be his first tweet ever in June this year.

Going against his employer’s long-standing tradition of not overtly involving itself in political matters, Mr Blankfein at the time used that tweet to slate Mr Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris agreement on climate change.

Since then he has tweeted a handful of times, on subjects as varied as Bitcoin, Saudi Arabia and immigration.

In August he took to the social media platform, using solar eclipse as an excuse to bemoan the state of the US – a tweet many perceived to be a thinly veiled dig at President Donald Trump.

Like many other global banks with a strong presence in London, Goldman has already indicated that it is preparing to relocate a portion of UK staff to the continent after Brexit, to ensure that it will be able to keep servicing clients seamlessly.

Earlier this month, Reuters reported that the bank, which currently employs around 6,000 people in London, had agreed to lease 10,000 square metres of office space in a new building in Frankfurt, providing space for up to 1,000 staff.

More recently, Bloomberg reported that top executives at the bank – alongside their peers at Wall Street rival JP Morgan – are bracing for a Brexit where the UK quits the EU without having a long-term trade deal in place.

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