JP Morgan’s CEO Jamie Dimon greenlit a large increase in private banking business headcount in Asia in January 2022, at a time when peers around the region were scrambling to grab a bigger share of Asian wealth.
It’s easy to see why. Full-year revenue at the Asia business of JPMorgan Private Bank hit a record $8.9 billion, up 16% over the previous year, and it posted a pre-tax margin of 35%.
Among the features that drive clients to JPMorgan in Asia – and in the wealth hub of Singapore – is the well-established partnership between the investment bank and the private bank teams. The bank is recording a steady and significant uptick in the volume of transactions and collaboration-derived revenues and financing.
Innovation and investments in technology are helping the team, led by Kam Shing Kwang, Asia private banking CEO, and Ulysses Lau, head of investments and engagement for Asia private bank.
JPMorgan understands that banks now are as much tech companies as they are financiers. Look no further than how rapidly the wealth management sector went from pushing back against the digital banking trends that many saw as existential threats, to co-opting them. Tech-enabled services are now a core part of keeping ultra-high net-worth clients happy and winning the next-generation race.
Clearly, the pandemic helped with this shift, pushing firms such as JPMorgan to be nimble to stay in the game.
Although some wealth clients still opt for in-person services, the digitally enabled financial world to which JPMorgan has been adapting is making relationship managers increasingly more efficient and responsive.
The bank boosted efforts to ensure that all digital services and processes fit the central goal of growing client personalization, without letting the apps and other tools go too far in phasing out the human interactions integral to deepening client relationships.
A key priority has been upgrading the JPMorgan Online International digital channel that empowers clients to monitor all their accounts, the performance of investments and keep up with the latest market trends and views. JPOI serves clients across nine platforms and seven languages, with the same high-quality functionality via mobile devices, tablets and web-based connections.
There, clients encounter an unusual omni-channel wealth management experience that balances the needs of both digital-native clients and hybrid-tech aficionados. In addition to market data and insights, clients can experiment with personalized portfolio construction, but still have access to their relationship managers at a moment’s notice if necessary – a perfect blend of the digital and the physical.