Global bank BNY says it wants to expand its office in Manchester where it already employs 2,000 people – and its CEO says Manchester is now at a “tipping point” where it can attract the world’s biggest science and tech companies.
BNY has been in Manchester for 20 years and its staff are spread across two buildings. But next year the company will move all its Manchester staff into the ten-storey 4 Angel Square building in NOMA, opposite New Century Hall.
The banking giant is making Manchester one of its six key global hubs outside New York and London. Last week Chancellor Rachel Reeves visited the building to talk to staff and to meet BNY’s global chief executive Robin Vince, who was visiting from New York.
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Sean Turner, who leads BNY’s Manchester operations, said his “expectation” was that the bank would grow its workforce still further as it expanded into its new home.
He said: “Right now we have 140,000 sq ft in two buildings, this building is 200,000 sq ft. So we're investing in a building that gives us the space... I'm expecting to expand.”
Group CEO Mr Vince said BNY was seeing Manchester become a more attractive place for graduates to stay, even ahead of London.
He said: “I think there's a flywheel positive effect associated with this, which is you need a certain amount of critical mass to make that actually happen. And I think Manchester seems to have now reached the tipping point where that's actually the case, where they've got new employers who are coming. The government just announced their digital services hub that's going to be here. That's 7,000 or 8,000 people.
“And remember, it's not for us. We are a bank, but what we are really is a global financial services platforms company. So tech matters to us, AI matters to us, digital capabilities matter to us. So we want an ecosystem that has those things, which means the university and the research matters - all those other components that means that we are part of an ecosystem as opposed to being lonely.
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“I think you could have said 20 years ago, we'd have been a bit lonely here, but now we don't feel lonely anymore and that helps a lot.”
He added: “There's a value to critical mass, but also we want to be part of a city that has talent. People want to be here – as I understand it, 51% of folks who come out of university in Manchester actually want to stay in Manchester.
“And so being able to be an employer, to connect with the various schools and universities, to be able to attract people in – it (Manchester) has got all the characteristics for us in what we're looking for from a site.”
BNY was formed from the merger of the historic Bank of New York with Mellon, and was until last year known as BNY Mellon. Mr Vince said the company was looking to create big hubs for its staff in key cities, rather than have people spread across different buildings.
He said BNY wanted “the ability to have a certain concentration where we get to be able to have all of the leadership, the talent, but also have the amenities. If you have multiple offices it's hard to be able to have cafeterias and gyms and health clubs and things like that.”
Sean Turner has been at BNY since it first arrived in Manchester 20 years ago, joining as one of BNY’s first 50 Manchester employees and rising to become BNY’s global head of corporate trust operations.
He said: “I was 18 and I did an apprenticeship and what was really evident from the get-go was that access to talent in Manchester. There's 120,000 students, 51% of them choose to stay and live in Manchester once they graduate.
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“You just walk around Manchester and you see the diversity, that's reflected in our employee base. There's 300,000 people now in financial services and advisory, so we can tap into that talent and then the 7.8 million people who live an hour's commute (from here).
“For us, if we think about growing, it's all about access to talent. Engineering, operations, compliance – there's a really good infrastructure and education connection that we have (locally)."
Mr Turner was on the committee that helped to choose BNY’s new building – and he’s proud that his firm will become the anchor tenant of a landmark building in the growing NOMA area.
He said: “For us, it's all about giving our teams the best possible experience. We're in the office, we collaborate, we're meeting clients, we have a lot of clients come through the doors actually and so for us it's about the prestige of a building like this.
“We've worked really closely with Midas and Noma and we know the plans for this area. We say we're an anchor tenant because we know there's more future development in this area and in that northern belt – houses, schools, supermarkets, infrastructure. So we're just really excited to be on the cusp of that change.”
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