PARIS (Reuters) – Morgan Stanley, First Abu Dhabi Bank and Zenith Bank of Nigeria will open new branches in Paris, synonymous with job creation, said the French Minister of Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire.
These announcements, which are in addition to investments in the industrial sector, come on the eve of the annual Choose France summit which is due to bring together some 180 foreign business leaders on Monday at the Palace of Versailles, in the presence of President Emmanuel Macron.
The banking facilities praised by Bruno Le Maire are able to help Paris establish its reputation as a leading financial hub within the European Union.
The Z/Yen survey of global financial centers, published in March, names New York as the leading financial center on the planet, with London in second place. It puts the German city of Frankfurt ahead of Paris.
“The fact that the United Arab Emirates and Nigeria are setting up their financial institutions in Paris is an excellent sign of the financial attractiveness of Paris and our capacity to be the largest financial center in Europe,” declared Bruno Le Maire in front of journalists.
The inauguration on Monday of the Morgan Stanley European campus in the 8th arrondissement of the French capital should, according to him, create around a hundred jobs.
The seventh edition of Choose France will also concern the pharmaceutical laboratory sector.
The American group Pfizer has announced an investment of 500 million euros over five years in order to “strengthen the research and development (R&D) ecosystem in France (…) in areas such as oncology and hematology, as well as pharmaceutical production in France”, we can read in a press release.
The daily Le Parisien/Aujourd’hui in France also reports an envelope from the Swedish-British group AstraZeneca to the tune of 365 million euros.
Bruno Le Maire, for his part, announced a project by the KL1 group, based in Switzerland, consisting of building a nickel refining plant in the towns of Blanquefort and Parempuyre, in New Aquitaine.
Called “Electro mobility materials Europe”, the investment of 300 million euros should create 200 jobs with the start of activity planned for 2027.
FACTORY PROJECTS IN NEW AQUITAINE
The start-up Lilium, based in Germany, plans to set up in France an assembly plant for electric vertical take-off aircraft as well as a second structure specializing in battery reconditioning.
The total investment is estimated at 400 million euros with 850 jobs at stake according to Bercy, which mentions several identified sites, “particularly in New Aquitaine”.
As part of Choose France, Bruno Le Maire will meet on Monday senior executives such as Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan, David Solomon, CEO of Goldman Sachs, Ted Pick, CEO of Morgan Stanley, and the boss of the Bank of America, Brian Moynihan.
An interview is also planned with Christophe Fouquet, the French boss of the Dutch semiconductor manufacturer ASML.
Choose France comes as the second largest economy in the euro zone intends to remain dynamic after growth of 0.2%, higher than forecasts, recorded in the first quarter.
For Bruno Le Maire, France and the European Union must redouble their efforts to counter foreign competition, particularly Chinese and American, and invest in areas such as renewable energies and artificial intelligence.
A message that the French minister intends to deliver to Brussels this week.
Baptized in this Olympic year “France, land of champions”, the 2024 edition of Choose France will begin on Monday with a lunch in the presence of the Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, and the European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton.
Among the 180 foreign business leaders invited, a third are new and half come from countries outside the European Union, according to the Elysée. Around sixty French bosses will also be there.
“France remains for the fifth consecutive year the most attractive country in Europe and welcomes extremely significant investments, including in a context of general macroeconomic slowdown,” welcomed the Presidency of the Republic.
Last year, the Elysée announced a record figure of 13 billion euros of investments “which are intended to be deployed over time”, specified an advisor to the Elysée.
(Reporting Sudip Kar-Gupta and Elizabeth Pineau, edited by Camille Raynaud)
Copyright © 2024 Thomson Reuters