[greenpinguin]

True, but if Barclays has 500 subsidiaries, how many will hsbc have? It was probably just cheaper to have the big office in canary wharf and keep the city office with less staff. I work close to bank station and I have never in my life seen so many banks, in the smallest spaces you get the most exotic bank branch from a bank operating in some other part of the world. And that's just on the street level - if it's not a pret it's a bank- and who knows what's in those generic skyscrapers housing 20 different companies...