The sign atop Credit Suisse’s London headquarters has been removed, one of the most visible signs yet of the changes sweeping the bank as staff prepare to move to UBS Group AG’s building in the City of London.
The facade of One Cabot Square in Canary Wharf, which has long borne Credit Suisse’s sign, was bare on Sunday, with the scaffolding used to remove it jutting out from the ledge above.
The high-rise has been Credit Suisse’s London home since 1991, when the office block was initially completed. Renovations on the building were completed as recently as 2019.
Staff are being relocated to UBS’s Five Broadgate office, the Swiss bank told employees in a memo last month. The aim is to have transferred all workers before the end of next year as UBS moves to integrate Credit Suisse after a deal to rescue its former rival in March.
A spokesperson for UBS, which is scheduled to report third- quarter results on Nov. 7, declined to comment.
London’s Canary Wharf neighborhood, has seen a number of large banks and law firms opt to leave the neighborhood for offices elsewhere in London in recent years.
HSBC Holdings Plc is also planning to leave Canary Wharf and will downsize to a smaller office in the City of London.
The Qatar Investment Authority directly owns One Cabot Square — where Credit Suisse has a lease until 2034 — as well as having a 50% shareholding in Canary Wharf Group, the landlord that owns and manages much of the east London financial district.
The sign may have come down, but that does not necessarily mean that its useful life is over. In 2010 a sign bearing the name of Lehman Brothers was sold for £42,050 ($50,973), far more than the £2,000-to-£3,000 auction estimate.
EFinancialCareers reported the news earlier.
