JP Morgan to move into former Lehman tower

JP Morgan has bought 25 Bank Street, the glass tower that once housed the London base of Lehman Brothers, the US investment bank that collapsed during the credit crisis in 2008.

From 2012, the building, in the Canary Wharf financial district, will be the European headquarters of JP Morgan's legion of investment bankers. As well as paying £495m for the former Lehman building, the US group also renewed its commitment to the £1.5bn Riverside South development in the Docklands, and said it is buying 60 Victoria Street, its long-standing base in the City, for an undisclosed sum.

JP Morgan acquired Riverside from the Canary Wharf Group (CWG) in 2008. But the development's future was thrown into doubt earlier this year amid speculation that the bank was looking to ditch the project because of the Government's portrayal of the financial sector as the villain of the recession.

Yesterday, JP Morgan said the site will give it options for growth in the future. CWG said its development agreement with the bank had been extended to October 2016, and that work on the site will recommence immediately.

JP Morgan's chief executive Jamie Dimon said the Bank Street deal represented the banking group's "continued commitment to London as one of the world's most important financial centres".