Goldman Sachs to bring hundreds of jobs to West Midlands with new Birmingham office

It will mean hundreds of new jobs for the West Midlands in the long term.

The global investment bank, which has its headquarters in New York, expects to open its new base in Birmingham before the end of the year. It will house the firm's engineering division and there will a mix of new hiring and existing employees moving to the second city.

Eventually the company expects to have a headcount of several hundreds across a number of divisions in Birmingham

Richard Gnodde, chief executive officer for Goldman Sachs International, said: "Establishing a new office in Birmingham will diversify our UK footprint and give us access to a broad and deep talent pool in the local area. We see tremendous opportunity to enhance our UK presence and continue delivering for our global clients."

Neil Rami, chief executive of the West Midlands Growth Company, the region’s official investment promotion agency, said: “Goldman Sachs is one of the world’s most prestigious investment banking institutions, renowned for its laser-focus on recruiting the best and brightest talent and the pre-eminence of its data-driven, customer-centric technologies. We are delighted that Goldman Sachs has chosen Birmingham as the home of its major new presence, where it will harness the region’s entrepreneurial talent to develop its mission-critical digital expertise, creating hundreds of jobs."

Mr Rami said Birmingham was already the thriving home of client-facing operations for investors such as Deutsche Bank and HSBC UK’s headquarters.

"This is just the beginning of a surge in momentum in foreign investment here, with the 2022 Commonwealth Games and Coventry’s City of Culture status opening up new international avenues to strengthen trade and investment flows into the region," he added.

Andy Street, the Mayor of the West Midlands, said: “This is brilliant news for the West Midlands and a significant investment by Goldman Sachs. Not only will it help create hundreds of jobs here locally, but it also shows real confidence in our region and our ability to bounce-back quickly and strongly from the pandemic.

“Throughout the past year we have had two major Government departments announce relocations to the region, and seen firms such as BT pressing ahead with their plans for major office space. Combined with the news today there is a clear sign that employers still want significant town and city centre office space, which can only be great news for West Midlands businesses that thrive off office worker trade.

“Of course Goldman Sachs were looking at other locations across the country, but the team at the West Midlands Growth Company worked ferociously hard behind the scenes and I am delighted we’ve convinced the firm to move here.”