Econintersect: It seemed like Wall Street moving data centers to New Jersey in recent years was a significant move to decentralize. There are now mega centers for Wall Street computers is such places as Secaucus, Mahwah, Carlstadt and Weehawken, the new bastions of financial power – at least the digital power. But decentralization is not stopping at the boundaries of northern New Jersey. Finance is speading nationally.The creation of a major national banking center in Charlotte, North Carolina over the past couple of decades could have been seen as a harbinger of the future. Now there announcements of relocations and expansions by major financial and banking operations in Raleigh. The latest announcements come from Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse and Fidelity who all have advertized job openings in Raleigh and adjacent Cary. The Raleigh metro area has a population currently estimated about 1.7 million, but is the fourth fastest growing metro in the U.S. over the past ten years according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The Raleigh metro is smaller than Charlotte, which has a population around 2.3 million.
The national expansion of finance is reaching much further than North Carolina, as well. Goldman Sachs is expanding their operations in Salt Lake City, already their second largest operation (after New York). Royal Bank of Scotland is also expanding in Utah. It seems that New York, Chicago, Boston and San Fransisco, the traditional financial centers of the U.S. are being joined by other metro areas such as Charlotte, Raleigh/Cary and Salt Lake City. Also mentioned in an article in Wall Street & Technology are Jacksonville, FL, Seattle, WA and Denver, CO.
Sources: Wall Street & Technology and Data Center Knowledge