Controversial $500m Connecticut offices for RBS
Scottish banking firm the Royal Bank of Scotland has bought a $500 million new Connecticut campus to house its US investment banking and Greenwich Capital market employees.
In the climate of the credit crunch, RBS was cagey in revealing its new plans for the expansion, preferring to concentrate their efforts on restoring the faith of British taxpayers having warranted a government bailout of $71 billion.
Hailed as a morale booster, British opinion may take a dimmer perspective of the bank responsible for recording the largest ever loss for a UK company spending on new pastures so soon. The loss was approximately $35 billion.
Emerging details of the deal include confirmation that the 3.4 acre property on Interstate 95 was opened in March 2009 and fully operational by September. The 11-story property was provided with $100 million in tax breaks and has cut a portion of the property tax revenue for the first five years of the lease.
Designed in 2006, the building itself is a highly sophisticated office space covering 95,000 sq ft capable of housing up to 1,000 traders on the trading floor and 400 more on an upper level. It is only 3,000 sq ft shy of UBS’s vast trading floor, the largest of its kind in the world.
Understandably, RBS have kept quiet about the extensive range of luxurious amenities available to their employees, all grouped on one “amenities floor” for convenience. Restaurants, coffee bars, retail space and a one-acre rooftop garden boasting views of the Mill River are amongst the plush features offered by the banking corporation.
RBS carried over 1,800 staff from the RBS banking sector alongside 300 staff from their headquarters and Citizens bank to the Stamford offices. The aim of the purchase was to centralise US staff accumulated in a series of acquisitions resulting from the Scottish firm staking claims on Dutch bank ABN Amro (2007) and Greenwich NatWest (2003).
New office ground is hoped to complete the integration process.