Skyscrapers in the financial, business and shopping district of Canary Wharf in London, UK.
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visa is moving its European headquarters to London's financial district, on the heels of an announcement from JPMorgan that it will build a landmark tower in an area considered the city's answer to Wall Street.
Visa, whose European headquarters is currently in Paddington, west London, has signed a 15-year lease for 300,000 square meters at One Canada Square in Canary Wharf, according to Canary Wharf Group. The company move will take place in summer 2028.
It follows news that JPMorgan is looking to build a new 3 million square foot tower in the city's historic financial district HSBC, BBVA, Barclays, Citibank and others have recommitted to the region in 2025. The British fintech Revolut also opened an office in the region in September.
Canary Wharf has been hit particularly hard as the coronavirus pandemic has spurred the move to hybrid and remote working. The Docklands Core submarket, which includes Canary Wharf, achieved a record vacancy rate of 18.5% in the first quarter of 2025, according to CoStar.
There are three main reasons for a resurgence in the district, Canary Wharf Group CEO Shobi Khan told CNBC in September, when Canary Wharf's vacancy rate was at 6% at the time.
Firstly, it is the convenience of the Elizabeth Line railway, which has enabled “never better” accessibility to the area, as well as the fact that the space can now be used in a variety of ways, including homes, hotels and offices.
“And finally, real estate is about demand and supply. The construction pipeline basically shuts down after 2026 and so rents are increased, we drive up rents and benefit from having limited space for tenants to view,” Khan said.
“Canary Wharf is thriving,” he added.
More than 750,000 square meters of office rentals have been announced in the Docklands area this year, which Canary Wharf Group says will be the best office rental year in more than a decade.
This is supported by measures announced in the UK's autumn budget, which stabilized the longer-term interest rate environment – a key metric for the property industry – according to Shabab Qadar, partner and head of London research at Knight Frank.
JPMorgan's commitment is “a big sign that London is open for business,” Qadar told Squawk Box Europe on Friday.. “London needs to be revalued. There are many attractive prices for London offices at the moment.”
Companies are increasingly requiring employees to return to the office and offering them incentives to do so. This offers the real estate industry some relief from the high risk of obsolescence, thanks in part to work relocations in the wake of the pandemic.
“Tenants want their accommodation to significantly support employee wellbeing. There is a war for talent and the return of employees to the office, which has increased significantly over the last 12 months, requires employers to provide their employees with the highest quality office space,” Qadar said.
“People have made bad decisions in downsizing in recent years and we will now see a period of downsizing,” he added.
The new three-year exemption from stamp duty for companies listed on a UK stock exchange will also “give a boost to financial services, particularly in the City”, Qadar said. However, pension reform is also “crucial to increasing London’s attractiveness to global investors”.
“Digital payments are driving economies across Europe. This exciting next step will better position us to drive the future of payments by giving Europeans access to best-in-class payment experiences while providing the highest levels of security, resilience and reliability,” said Antony Cahill, regional president and CEO of Visa Europe, in a statement.