New Yorkers Get Together, Just Not in Offices

Much of New York is back in swing, with hundreds willing to get in close quarters together. It’s just not the same inside office buildings.

Thousands from around the world have been brought together again in recent weeks. Dignitaries collaborated at the United Nations meeting, bringing traffic in the city to a halt. Floors were filled in the Javits Center for Anthony Scaramucci’s conference, while each night parties filled venues near Hudson Yards. A week later, hedge fund managers including Ray Dalio and Dan Loeb huddled to swap big ideas an hour away, next to parked yachts at the Greenwich Economic Forum.

Nights were lit up at clubs and lofts in the West Village and Tribeca as crypto events abounded. The Wall Street elite are hosting soirees in Greenwich Village and Central Park once more.

Yet big Wall Street firms are having trouble bringing people back.

Bloomberg’s Jenny Surane highlights the perks meant to lure workers in: free food, complimentary gym memberships, group therapy sessions and, in the case of Citigroup in London, even therapy puppies. An estimated 28% of office workers in the New York areas have returned, data tracked by security company Kastle Systems shows.

Wells Fargo, meanwhile, has pushed its return-to-office plans back a third time. The bank with the biggest workforce of all of its peers is now targeting November.

More on Wall Street

• Blue Owl Co-President Marc Lipschultz tells me he’s worried about complacency in markets, in an exclusive television interview from the Greenwich Economic Forum.
• Meanwhile, Ares’s Kipp deVeer tells me some of the hottest deals in private credit are set to get bigger as firms band together.
• Guggenheim’s Jim Millstein is warning his clients about default risks, given more than half of all investment-grade bonds are now rated in the lowest tier of BBB.
• Centerview’s Blair Effron gives my deals colleagues a taste of his strategy in Silicon Valley.
• A group of women on Wall Street are set to form a new investment bank, backed by Lazard.
• Trump Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has raised a $2.5 billion fund, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg’s Heather Perlberg and me. Most of the money is from sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
• Bloomberg Opinion’s Tim O’Brien says ethics rules around fundraising by former government officials should be revisited.

Really big few weeks ahead, and I hope the last week of September is set to be a rewarding one for you. Also, I’d love for you to join me this week for Bloomberg Television, as I’ll be filling in as a co-anchor from 2-5 p.m. Eastern each day. Send any tips and ideas to [email protected].