US-based bank Wells Fargo’s new head of its London office has left the position before he even started the job.
Mike Marino was due in London this month but is staying in southern California instead, where he is head of the bank’s metro markets group. The bank said that Marino is staying in the US for “unexpected personal reasons”.
Wells Fargo added that Marino’s decision not to come to London does not affect the bank’s plan to expand lending in the UK and that it is “currently evaluating candidates to lead the commercial real estate office in London”.
Two other Wells Fargo bankers, Cullen Powell and Robert Maddox, have moved to London as planned and will start work next week.
Wells Fargo lends around £550m a year through its London office and is expected to increase this sharply in 2013.
Recent big deals in which Wells Fargo has participated include the £150m financing of 99 Bishopsgate, EC2, which it did jointly with Santander and Aareal, and the £535m loan facility for the Maybourne Hotel group, which it did jointly with Barclays.
