London's answer to Wall Street gains momentum as major firms sign on

Visa is moving its European headquarters to London's financial district, hot on the heels of an announcement by JPMorgan that it will build a landmark tower in an area considered to be the city's answer to Wall Street.

Visa, whose European headquarters is currently at Paddington in the west of London, has signed a 15-year, 300,000 square foot lease at One Canada Square in Canary Wharf, according to Canary Wharf Group. The firm will move in summer of 2028.  

It follows news that JPMorgan intends to build a new 3 million square foot tower in the city's historic financial district, while HSBC, BBVA, Barclays, Citibank and others have recommitted to the area in 2025. British fintech Revolut also opened an office in the area in September.  

Canary Wharf was hit particularly hard as the coronavirus pandemic fueled a move to hybrid and remote working. The Docklands Core submarket, which includes Canary Wharf, hit record high vacancy rates in the first quarter of 2025, at 18.5%, according to data from CoStar.  

There are three main reasons for a resurgence of the district, Shobi Khan, CEO, Canary Wharf Group, told CNBC in September, at which point Canary Wharf's vacancy rate was 6%.

First is the convenience of the Elizabeth line railway, which has provided access to the area that has "never been better," as well as the fact the space is now multi-use, featuring residential home and hotels as well as offices. 

"And lastly, real estate is about demand and supply. The construction pipeline is basically turning off after 2026 and so rents are being increased, we're pushing rents and getting the benefit of having limited space for occupants to look at," Khan said.  

"Canary Wharf is thriving," he added. 

More than 750,000 square foot of office leases have been announced in the docklands area this year, marking what Canary Wharf Group said will be its best office leasing year in more than a decade. 

It is helped by measures announced in the U.K.'s Autumn Budget, which stabilized the longer-term interest rate environment — a key metric for the real estate industry — according to Shabab Qadar, partner and head of London research at Knight Frank. 

The JPMorgan commitment is "a huge sign of London is open for business," Qadar told "Squawk Box Europe" on Friday. "London needs rerating. There's a lot of attractive pricing for London offices right now." 

Companies are increasingly requiring employees to return to office and incentivizing them to do so, offering the real estate industry some form of respite from high obsolescence risk thanks in part to pandemic-era shifts in work.  

"Occupiers want their accommodation to be much more conducive to the wellness of employees. There's war for talent, and getting people back in the office, which we've seen increased quite considerably over the last 12 months, is requiring employers to provide the best quality office space for their staff," Qadar said. 

"People made incorrect decisions when it came to downsizing over the last few years, and we're going to see a period of upsizing now," he added. 

The new three-year stamp duty exemption for companies listing on a U.K. stock exchange will also "provide a kicker to financial services, particularly in the city," Qadar said, however pension reform is also "critical to raising the attractiveness of London to global investors."

"Digital payments power economies right across Europe. This exciting next step will better position us to pioneer the future of payments, giving Europeans access to world-class payment experiences while being offered the highest levels of security, resilience and reliability," said Antony Cahill, regional president and CEO of Visa Europe, said in a statement.