The Financial Conduct Authority has secured a deal for a new office in a fast growing business district in Leeds, it has been revealed.
Published 22nd Oct 2026, 07:32 BST
The FCA said it had signed an agreement for an office at 2 Wellington Place, which will become its long-term home in Leeds from 2028.
A spokesman said: “The new office will provide 36,097 sq ft of space for our growing Leeds presence.
“Our Leeds office, currently at 6 Queen Street, has continued to grow since opening in 2022. Securing a new permanent base reflects our commitment to the city and to maintaining a strong presence across the UK, in line with our five-year strategy.
“There is still some time before the move, and we'll share more about our new office and plans closer to 2028.”
Earlier this month, Pritheeva Rasaratnam, the head of the Financial Conduct Authority’s Leeds office, told The Yorkshire Post that the regulator had been “surprised on the upside” in terms of who it had managed to recruit in Leeds.
“We started with just one employee in 2022. We moved up to 100 in the spring of 2024 and 250 later in that year,’’ she added.
"There's been a massive upward curve in terms of recruitment. We're now up at just over 350 and there's a commitment to have 1,000 staff based outside London between Edinburgh and Leeds; we don't know how that will be spread.”
She added: “We've taken on a tranche of apprentices and graduates, who bring such energy to the organisation. We’ve recruited 10 graduates this year, up from just one last year and 60 per cent of them went to universities in Leeds.”
She said the FCA, which is an independent public body funded entirely by the fees it charges regulated firms, has achieved “really tangible outcomes in the fight against financial crime, supporting consumers, building trust, and stopping scams”.
"It's showing people they can have a financial services career in this region. They don't need to go to London. The city offers a steady stream of skilled graduates which is really appealing to businesses in knowledge intensive sectors like us."
In early 2025, the FCA opened further floor space at its existing base on Queen Street in Leeds, increasing it by an extra 5,000 square feet.
Speaking last year, Nikhil Rathi, chief executive of the FCA said the expansion provided further opportunity for the regulator to benefit from a broader talent pool, “offering different perspectives and experiences, meaning we can better represent the communities we serve”.
The FCA is responsible for regulating around 35,500 firms. It was established in 2013, when it took over the responsibility for conduct and prudential regulation from the Financial Services Authority (FSA). It works across the UK with a head office in London, offices in Leeds and Edinburgh, and staff in Belfast and Cardiff.
Wellington Place has been built on the site of Leeds Central Station, which closed in the 1960s. Today, it is a 21-acre business district which is home to more than 50 companies, in around 1 million sq ft of space across 11 buildings.
It has been developed by MEPC, the specialist real estate development platform of Federated Hermes.
Once completed, the scheme will have a total of 1.5 million sq ft of commercial, retail and leisure space and be one of the biggest new city centre business quarters in Europe. Current occupiers include Lloyds Banking Group, HMRC, Arup, Equifax and GHD.