LONDON: BZW Securities, the investment banking arm of Barclays, says it will move its London headquarters and all 3,500 employees to the Canary Wharf office complex.
The move follows an announcement last year that BZW would move 2,000 employees in its fixed-income, foreign exchange and back office businesses to the complex three miles down the River Thames from London's financial district, known as the City.
Now, staff of the equities, corporate finance and asset management departments, who were originally going to remain at the company's offices at No 1 Royal Mint Court along the Thames, will move down to Canary Wharf as well.
'As we looked more closely at what we need to do to compete globally, the logic of moving everyone to a single complex became quite overwhelming and could not be ignored,' said spokesman Peter Baillie.
The move is a victory for the Canary Wharf complex, which has just been bought by an investor group after going insolvent in 1993 because of a slump in the London office market.
It is a blow to the City of London, which has seen several large companies move in recent years to less expensive locations.