The competition for tech talent is prompting banks to restructure their real estate portfolios.

Dallas now houses the second highest number of financial services jobs as new business objectives and technology drive the location strategies of banks, including Bank of Montreal, Comerica Bank, and PNC.

ANZ, one of Australia’s ‘big four’ banks, has promised to build a hub for 700 technology workers in a city with a fifth of the country’s information-technology (IT) students.

In Singapore, United Overseas Bank is the largest investor in the city-state’s first smart and sustainable business district.

“While a majority of the largest financial services organizations have contracted their real estate footprint since the onset of the pandemic, leading firms have been selectively expanding in markets that offer scalability and affordability of diverse tech talent,” says Sarah Bouzarouata, JLL’s financial services research lead and author of the report, Driving innovation and resilience in banking: The critical role of real estate strategy.

Hybrid work, cost pressures, changing regulatory requirements and a heightened awareness of privacy and fraud are sweeping through traditional banking, affecting everything from hiring to property and determining how banks design their future offices for the new face of their workforce.

“Deepening and differentiating talent pools while being close to customers is a key agenda,” Bouzarouata says.