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The boss of Goldman Sachs has admitted that the impact of Brexit has not been as bad as he expected it to be.

Lloyd Blankfein said the UK economy has “suprised” since the referendum adding “it’s slower than Europe but not by much”.

However he said the Wall Street giant may have delayed or even scrapped plans for a new London headquarters had he known about Britain’s departure from the EU earlier.

The banking boss has been a vocal figure on Brexit and has not shied away from bemoaning the uncertainty that has since hit the UK's financial sector.

Mr Blankfein told Politico Europe: "I'm at least wrong in the fact that I would have thought there would have been a worse outcome by now.

"There might be a lag effect to this, or it may not happen, but I would say so far what's evident is we would have thought that decision making would have been altered by now, it would have been felt more than it has by now.

"The UK economy has surprised to the upside, it's slower than Europe but not by that much."

Mr Blankfein said there were "a lot of reasons" to follow through on the construction of the finance firm's £1 billion London site, which is set to open in 2019.

However he hinted that the UK capital may no longer have been his preferred location if he foreseen Brexit.

He said: "We are going to keep that building and there's a lot of reasons to have it and it works out economically, and the math work.

"But that's not the same thing as saying that if we knew four years ago, when we made the decision to go ahead, that we would have had this outcome.

Brexit: Article 50 Triggered - In pictures 20 show all Brexit: Article 50 Triggered - In pictures 1/20 Britain's ambassador to the EU Tim Barrow delivers British Prime Minister Theresa May's formal notice of the UK's intention to leave the bloc under Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty to European Council President Donald Tusk in Brussels AFP/Getty Images 2/20 Prime Minister Theresa May speaks during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Common PA 3/20 Britain's ambassador to the EU Tim Barrow delivers British Prime Minister Theresa May's formal notice of the UK's intention to leave the bloc under Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty to European Council President Donald Tusk in Brussels AFP/Getty Images 4/20 5/20 6/20 7/20 European Council President Donald Tusk holds a news conference after receiving British Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit letter in notice of the UK's intention to leave the bloc under Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty to EU Council President Donald Tusk in Brussels, Belgium Yves Herman/Reuters 8/20 Prime Minister Theresa May takes her seat after announcing in the House of Commons PA 9/20 The time 12:20pm shows on Big Ben on March 29, 2017 in London, England. The British Prime Minister Theresa May addresses the Houses of Parliament as Article 50 is triggered and the process that will take the United Kingdom out of the European Union begins Carl Court/Getty Images 10/20 D-day: pro-EU protesters outside of the Houses of Parliament today as Theresa May prepares to trigger Article 50 AFP/Getty Images 11/20 EU Council President Donald Tusk holds British Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit letter which was delivered by Britain's permanent representative to the European Union Tim Barrow (not pictured) that gives notice of the UK's intention to leave the bloc under Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty in Brussels, Belgium Yves Herman/Reuters 12/20 PMQ's in The House of Commons PA 13/20 Jeremy Corbyn speaking at PMQ's in The House of Commons Sky News 14/20 Theresa May leaving for the House of Commons Jeremy Selwyn 15/20 Mayor of London Sadiq Khan at the headquarters of Vivendi in Paris where he took part in TV interviews to discuss the imminent triggering of Article 50 by the UK to leave the EU Stefan Rousseau/PA 16/20 Britain's permanent representative to the European Union Tim Barrow arrives at the EU Council headquarters for as meeting before hand delivering British Prime Minister Theresa May's notice of the UK's intention to leave the bloc under Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty to EU Council President Donald Tusk in Brussels, Belgium Yves Herman/Reuters 17/20 Britain's ambassador to the EU Tim Barrow arrives at the British representation of the European Union in Brussels Aurore Belot/AFP/Getty Images 18/20 A giant headed Theresa May in Parliament Square, London during a protest by Avaaz after PM signed a letter to trigger Article 50 that starts the formal exit process by the UK from the European Union David Mirzoeff/PA 19/20 British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson walks down Whitehall Jack Taylor/Getty Images 20/20 Britain's PM Theresa May signs the official letter to European Council President Donald Tusk, invoking Article 50. AFP/Getty Images 1/20 Britain's ambassador to the EU Tim Barrow delivers British Prime Minister Theresa May's formal notice of the UK's intention to leave the bloc under Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty to European Council President Donald Tusk in Brussels AFP/Getty Images 2/20 Prime Minister Theresa May speaks during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Common PA 3/20 Britain's ambassador to the EU Tim Barrow delivers British Prime Minister Theresa May's formal notice of the UK's intention to leave the bloc under Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty to European Council President Donald Tusk in Brussels AFP/Getty Images 4/20 5/20 6/20 7/20 European Council President Donald Tusk holds a news conference after receiving British Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit letter in notice of the UK's intention to leave the bloc under Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty to EU Council President Donald Tusk in Brussels, Belgium Yves Herman/Reuters 8/20 Prime Minister Theresa May takes her seat after announcing in the House of Commons PA 9/20 The time 12:20pm shows on Big Ben on March 29, 2017 in London, England. The British Prime Minister Theresa May addresses the Houses of Parliament as Article 50 is triggered and the process that will take the United Kingdom out of the European Union begins Carl Court/Getty Images 10/20 D-day: pro-EU protesters outside of the Houses of Parliament today as Theresa May prepares to trigger Article 50 AFP/Getty Images 11/20 EU Council President Donald Tusk holds British Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit letter which was delivered by Britain's permanent representative to the European Union Tim Barrow (not pictured) that gives notice of the UK's intention to leave the bloc under Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty in Brussels, Belgium Yves Herman/Reuters 12/20 PMQ's in The House of Commons PA 13/20 Jeremy Corbyn speaking at PMQ's in The House of Commons Sky News 14/20 Theresa May leaving for the House of Commons Jeremy Selwyn 15/20 Mayor of London Sadiq Khan at the headquarters of Vivendi in Paris where he took part in TV interviews to discuss the imminent triggering of Article 50 by the UK to leave the EU Stefan Rousseau/PA 16/20 Britain's permanent representative to the European Union Tim Barrow arrives at the EU Council headquarters for as meeting before hand delivering British Prime Minister Theresa May's notice of the UK's intention to leave the bloc under Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty to EU Council President Donald Tusk in Brussels, Belgium Yves Herman/Reuters 17/20 Britain's ambassador to the EU Tim Barrow arrives at the British representation of the European Union in Brussels Aurore Belot/AFP/Getty Images 18/20 A giant headed Theresa May in Parliament Square, London during a protest by Avaaz after PM signed a letter to trigger Article 50 that starts the formal exit process by the UK from the European Union David Mirzoeff/PA 19/20 British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson walks down Whitehall Jack Taylor/Getty Images 20/20 Britain's PM Theresa May signs the official letter to European Council President Donald Tusk, invoking Article 50. AFP/Getty Images

"We probably would have delayed that decision, maybe we wouldn't have made the same decision at all."

The new office, which is being built just off Farringdon Street and near its Peterborough Court headquarters, is expected to be about nine storeys high when it is ready to house staff next year, though it has kept the option of letting out any remaining space to other tenants.

It provides some flexibility for Goldman, which employs around 6,500 UK staff.

"Even if we don't fill it all, it's still economic... for a lot of reasons specific to Goldman Sachs," he added.

Mr Blankfein said Goldman was keeping a close eye on the outcome of Brexit negotiations.

"We're focused on it because we bear the consequences of it," he explained.

"We're one of those industries that have to make possibly a pretty radical adaptation depending on the outcome, and one of the circumstances for us is if an agreement is reached in March of 2019, we can't start to execute and and organise ourselves to accommodate that agreement starting in March of 2019.

"We have different watershed moments by which we have to execute certain things because they might be part of the agreement."

Mr Blankfein said that some of those deadlines have already passed.

"We can't rent real estate at the last minute, so we have already taken our real estate, some in France, some in Germany and some in other countries," he said.

"We may have to deal through different legal entities, we can't approve those, set those up, get central bank approval and licences at the last moment so that process has to start, we may have to deal with clients from different entities so we have to re-paper relationships."

Thousands of anti-Brexit activists march to Parliament in protest 12 show all Thousands of anti-Brexit activists march to Parliament in protest 1/12 Demonstrators head towards Parliament Square. REUTERS 2/12 Signs include 'I love EU' REUTERS 3/12 The pro-EU march began in Hyde Park Corner. Si Carrington 4/12 'NHS? Brexit Wrexit' Oliver Day 5/12 The march took protesters through the streets of London. Oliver Day 6/12 One protester brought along a papier mache Queen, in reference to the blue and yellow hat she wore at the State Opening of Parliament. Peter Bailey 7/12 'Exit Brexit' Jonathan Hawley 8/12 The September sun shone as activists marched through the streets. Martin Tod 9/12 Roads were blocked during the protest. Maggie Jones 10/12 The campaigners set off shortly after 11am from Hyde Park Corner. Maggie Jones 11/12 The rally saw the activists march through the streets of central London. Johann Ketel 12/12 EU colours of blue and yellow were seen throughout the march. Judi Conner 1/12 Demonstrators head towards Parliament Square. REUTERS 2/12 Signs include 'I love EU' REUTERS 3/12 The pro-EU march began in Hyde Park Corner. Si Carrington 4/12 'NHS? Brexit Wrexit' Oliver Day 5/12 The march took protesters through the streets of London. Oliver Day 6/12 One protester brought along a papier mache Queen, in reference to the blue and yellow hat she wore at the State Opening of Parliament. Peter Bailey 7/12 'Exit Brexit' Jonathan Hawley 8/12 The September sun shone as activists marched through the streets. Martin Tod 9/12 Roads were blocked during the protest. Maggie Jones 10/12 The campaigners set off shortly after 11am from Hyde Park Corner. Maggie Jones 11/12 The rally saw the activists march through the streets of central London. Johann Ketel 12/12 EU colours of blue and yellow were seen throughout the march. Judi Conner

As part of its Brexit contingency plans, the bank is set to at least double its Frankfurt office to 400 staff through a mix of relocations and local hires and has also signed a lease on a yet-to-be built skyscraper in the Germany city that can house up to 800 employees with options to take up additional space.

Paris, where Goldman currently employs around 150 staff, will then serve as a dual hub alongside Frankfurt, with additional moves made to offices including Milan, Madrid, Stockholm and Dublin.

Additional reporting by Press Association