Goldman Sachs to expand consumer finance business to Wilmington’s Riverfront
From Delaware Online
Goldman Sachs’ expansion into retail lending is bringing a sliver of the investment bank’s operations into the credit card hot spot of Delaware.
Officials at the storied 150-year-old bank said they are securing a temporary lease for offices along the Wilmington Riverfront to house the company’s initial set of Delaware hires, estimated at 25 to 50 people.
The company plans to employ about 150 people in Wilmington at the end of next year, said Chantal Garcia, chief operating officer for Goldman Sachs’ Consumer Business.
Garcia declined to disclose the exact location of their initial office along the Riverfront, but noted it would be a small space. Later, the company will move to more expansive offices, she said.
“We have not yet determined … our long-term location, in part, because there are potential other businesses or partners within the firm that may be interested in co-locating with us,” Garcia said, noting that compliance operations might also expand into Delaware.
The news is certain to be welcomed by city and state officials, who have poured hundreds of millions of dollars over 25 years into a transformation of the Riverfront, once a declining industrial area.
While today it features modern offices, apartments and restaurants, the revitalization of the city’s overall core has been plagued in recent years by a roller coaster of restructuring within the financial services industry.
Last year, the British bank Barclays moved 500 Riverfront jobs to New Jersey.
In June, Delaware officials announced plans to give the bank $2.5 million in taxpayer grants to create another 300 jobs in Wilmington.
Garcia said Goldman Sachs last week began conversations with the state’s private economic development agency about potential incentives.
She said Goldman Sachs is committed to Delaware, whether or not it receives taxpayer grants. She noted the company already has extended offers to a portion of what will be its new Delaware workforce.
Goldman Sachs’ officials chose Delaware over locations in Texas, Utah and Illinois, Garcia said, because of the state’s substantial pool of finance workers, its relatively low cost of living and its proximity to the bank’s headquarters.