By Anirban Sen, Suzanne McGee and Lananh Nguyen
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Wall Street and the finance industry have broad misgivings about the prospect of frontrunner Zohran Mamdani becoming New York City’s mayor, but many are hopeful he moderates his positions as they prepare to try and work alongside him.
Mamdani’s policies range from hiking taxes on New York City’s wealthiest, raising the corporation tax, freezing stabilized apartment rental rates and increasing publicly subsidized housing, raising worries among the finance community that the city’s competitiveness will suffer.
“There are a whole bunch of ideas that are well-intentioned. What I agree with is that he has attracted real passion,” said Cromwell Coulson, chief executive at Manhattan-based markets data and trading platform OTC Markets Group. Still, Coulson cited concerns, saying that some people could be driven to leave the city if it becomes an unfriendly place for commerce.
“It won’t be day one, but you will see where our hiring footprints go,” said Coulson, who said he ultimately supports Mamdani’s top rival in the race, former Governor Andrew Cuomo, a moderate Democrat. Republican Curtis Sliwa is also on the ballot in the November 4 election.
Reuters spoke to more than half a dozen other members of the finance community, including executives or representatives of financial firms or industry sectors, who declined to be named talking about politics.
“If the election turns out the way the polls suggest, … let’s hope that the worst fears of what might occur thereafter are not realized and that the new mayor, whoever it might be, continues to realize the importance of the business community to the city,” Peter Orszag, CEO of financial advisory and asset management firm Lazard CEO, said on a recent earnings conference call. Orszag had served under Democratic former President Barack Obama as director of the Office of Management and Budget.
Some heavyweights in finance have poured money into efforts to defeat Mamdani. High-profile investor Bill Ackman posted on X on Sunday that Mamdani’s “anti-business policies including higher corporate taxes will kill NYC jobs and cause companies to flee.” Ackman has donated $1 million to Defend NYC, which describes itself as a “bipartisan group of New Yorkers united by a shared concern over the policies and record of Zohran Mamdani,” and $750,000 to Fix the City, which supports Cuomo, according to data on the New York City Campaign Finance Board website.
Billionaire investor Dan Loeb has donated $600,000 to Fix the City and $100,000 to Defend NYC. Representatives for both Ackman and Loeb declined comment.
Still, with betting website Polymarket having the odds of Mamdani winning at 95%, Wall Street leaders are increasingly focusing on how to work with him. Indeed, Mamdani has been engaged directly with business leaders. He spoke with CEOs in meetings organized by the Partnership for New York City, whose members include Wall Street banks, private equity firms and law firms, according to Kathryn Wylde, CEO of the organization. In the summer, he spoke by phone with JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, who offered help if Mamdani becomes mayor, one of the sources said. Another of the sources said Mamdani has been engaged with the real estate industry.
The call with Dimon was previously reported by Bloomberg.
Yasser Salem, CEO of OneNYC, an independent expenditure committee that backs Mamdani, told Reuters in an interview that he is assembling an advisory council of business leaders to work with Mamdani if he prevails.
“We are highly focused on building specific instances and demonstrations of trust” with the business community, Salem said.
Representatives for Mamdani and Cuomo did not respond to requests for comment.
While the mayor of New York does not have direct oversight on Wall Street, the mayor sets the tone on whether the global heart of capitalism is perceived as business friendly. Governor Kathy Hochul in September endorsed Mamdani in an opinion piece in The New York Times, while saying that she wants to keep New York the center of the global economy.
Christina Greer, a political science professor at Fordham University in New York, noted that for tax hikes to be enacted Mamdani would have to work in conjunction with Albany, which must approve any city tax hikes.
“Whatever process will happen will be incredibly slow and may never actually affect” wealthy residents, said Greer.
RIPPLE EFFECTS THROUGH CITY
Real estate could see a ripple effect, with Mamdani pushing for a rent freeze on rent-stabilized apartments, a measure undertaken by former Mayor Bill de Blasio but reversed by the current outgoing mayor, Eric Adams.
A potential rent freeze has spooked many landlords and lenders, said Paul Rahimian, CEO of Parkview Financial, a Los Angeles real estate lender which has a New York City office. Rahimian said the firm was taking a “hold and see” attitude to extending new loans to real estate developers and projects in New York until after the election.
“There are a lot of landlords that are now no longer making money but whose properties are costing them money every year,” he said.
Isaac Toledano, founder and CEO of Miami-based real estate investment firm BH Group, said he anticipated that 2026 would be busy with relocations from New York to Florida if Mamdani wins.
“There are a lot of people that do not agree with what he’s going to do,” said Toledano.
(Reporting by Anirban Sen, Tatiana Bautzer, Lananh Nguyen, Suzanne McGee; additional reporting by Maria Tsvetkova, Matt Tracy, Megan Davies; Writing by Megan Davies; Editing by Leslie Adler)
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