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Blankfein has visited Frankfurt and Paris over the past few
weeks as the Wall Street bank pushes ahead with its plans to
cope with Britain's exit from the EU.
"We will have more employees on the continent. Some, if they
want to, would come from London, we will hire others," Blankfein
was quoted as saying by Le Figaro, without giving any numbers.
"But we won't have a single hub, but two - Frankfurt and Paris
... Brexit pushes us to decentralize our activities. In the end,
its the people who will largely decide where they prefer to
live."
"And I can imagine that many Americans would prefer living in
Paris than Frankfurt for various reasons."
Britain is currently home to most of Goldman Sachs's European
operations, where it has around 6,000 employees. But bank needs
to ensure it will still be able to serve EU clients once Britain
leaves, which may limit access to the EU's single market.
Blankfein said the bank was approaching the time when it needed
to make decisions and that it was preparing for different
scenarios. He also hoped Brexit negotiators would come to an
agreement what would involve a transition period for new rules
to come into force after Britain officially leaves the EU in
2019.
France has stepped up efforts to attract London banks preparing
for Brexit to Paris after the election of President Emmanuel
Macron, who has begun to make labor law more flexible.
The Wall Street bank is also still investing in London where it
still expects to fill new European headquarters currently under
construction.
(Reporting by Maya Nikolaeva. Editing by Jane Merriman)
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