JP Morgan boss warns Andy Burnham over bank tax plans
The head of JP Morgan has issued a blunt warning to Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, threatening unspecified “consequences” if the regional leader pushes ahead with plans to levy a new tax on banks operating in the city. It’s a confrontation that few in Westminster saw coming — but one that could define how much financial power England’s metro mayors actually hold.
What Burnham is proposing
Burnham has been exploring ways to raise independent revenue for Greater Manchester, frustrated by years of central government funding constraints. Among the ideas floated is a levy targeting financial institutions operating in the region — a move he argues would help plug gaps in local services and infrastructure. Manchester’s financial district has grown substantially over the past decade, with around 30,000 people now employed in financial and professional services across the city.
But the banks aren’t happy about it.
JP Morgan’s warning
Daniel Pinto, JP Morgan’s president and chief operating officer, made the remarks during a conversation with UK business leaders earlier this week. He didn’t mince words. “There would be consequences,” Pinto reportedly said, without spelling out precisely what those consequences might be. The implication, though, was clear enough — the bank could reconsider its footprint in the region if the tax became a reality.
JP Morgan employs roughly 1,200 people at its Spinningfields office in central Manchester, making it one of the city’s larger financial employers. That’s not a small number, and Pinto knows it.
A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Combined Authority said the mayor “welcomes investment and partnership with the private sector” but that exploring new fiscal tools was a legitimate ambition for any regional government serious about financial independence.
The bigger political battle
Strip away the corporate language and this is really a fight about something much older: who gets to tax whom, and where power sits in England. Burnham has long argued that metro mayors need genuine fiscal autonomy, not just spending pots handed down from Whitehall. So far, the central government has been cautious about granting that kind of independence.
And Pinto’s intervention plays directly into that tension. Critics will say it’s exactly the kind of corporate pressure that has historically kept local governments in check. Supporters of JP Morgan’s position will argue that predictable, stable tax environments are essential for business investment decisions that take years to plan.
Still, the optics of a Wall Street banking giant warning a regional British politician to back off are striking, to put it mildly.
What happens next
Burnham hasn’t blinked yet. His office has given no indication that the JP Morgan warning has altered his thinking, and he’s expected to continue making the case for expanded fiscal devolution in the months ahead.
Whether any bank levy ever makes it onto the statute books is another matter entirely. But the row has already done one thing — it’s forced a national conversation about who really calls the shots in England’s great northern cities.
