JPMorgan

JPMorgan Chase’s huge tech spending is renowned in banking. Euromoney speaks to the firm’s chief data and analytics officer Teresa Heitsenrether about how the bank is using large language models differently from other banks, and what the future holds for generative AI.

JPMorgan has taken a multifaceted approach to enhancing its FX business in North America, with a focus on automation, client customization and technological upgrades across various business lines.

The low volatility conditions observed in FX markets over the past year have posed challenges, with market makers facing spread compression and reduced turnover. Despite these obstacles, JPMorgan has maintained a high level of performance. The firm has consistently ranked highly across multi-dealer channels. Additionally, JPMorgan continued to expand its dominance in the FX options market, further solidifying its reputation as a top player in the space.

JPMorgan has continued to demonstrate innovation and growth in FX options by enhancing product offerings, expanding platform integrations and strengthening client engagement. The results speak for themselves – JPMorgan’s market share for FX options direct client execution rose by 7% year-on-year.

JPMorgan made a meaningful enhancement to its FX analytics offering with the launch of Algo Simulator.

It is turning out to be an equities year for the big investment banks, as fixed income revenues fall or stall and fees from dealmaking recover slowly.

Few banks have navigated turbulent times so well, posting record revenues on the back of strong net inflows and rising markets.

It is in difficult times that the best franchises prove their mettle. JPMorgan’s formidable corporate and investment bank – now bolstered through its integration of commercial banking – was the one to beat over the last year. No rival can match its breadth, but the firm’s rejection of complacency means that it never stops improving.

As in so many other areas of the bank’s franchise, JPMorgan’s wealth management performance in 2023 was a good illustration of the unique qualities of the US’s preeminent banking institution. It is North America’s best bank for wealth management.

Despite 2023 not being a year for the record books in investment banking and capital markets, clients still required careful and thoughtful advice even when they were not doing landmark deals. For its consistency and all-round excellence, JPMorgan takes the US award for best investment bank.

For a small economy, Luxembourg boasts many banks: 120 were authorized in 2023. Many of these primarily serve international clients, in particular providing securities services to institutional investors from across Europe and beyond.

By far the biggest bank by assets in the country and boasting nine million account holders, ING is also the best bank in the Netherlands this year.

Kasikornbank (KBank) receives the award for Thailand’s best bank in in recognition of its commitment to enhancing asset quality in a challenging market and its dedication to sustainability initiatives.

If there was ever a time that demonstrated JPMorgan’s credentials as the country’s best bank, it was the crisis in March and April 2023 when US regional banks suddenly faced a balance sheet reckoning triggered by the rapid change in interest rates.

Derivatives structurers are thriving, but regulators aren’t convinced the biggest Wall Street banks have a firm grasp of their complex exposure.

As securities markets shift to T+1, repo is already going intraday with DLR the first of what may be many digital trading platforms to offer JPM Coin for the cash leg.

Anything except a brief stay on as chairman would cast a baleful shadow over the chief executive’s successor at JPMorgan.

If there were two areas for any investment bank’s Middle East advisory team to specialise in and prove all-round excellence in last year, they were the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and outbound transactions. JPMorgan excelled on both counts.

Exactly one year ago, San Francisco-based First Republic Bank was sold by regulators amid a US regional banking crisis. Citizens Financial Group, which had seen the sale as a chance to turbocharge its private banking ambitions, lost out to JPMorgan. But far from being the end of the story, that failed bid was just the beginning. Within weeks the bank had announced First Republic’s Susan deTray as the head of its new private bank, a unit that is now at the heart of a fast-growing wealth franchise.

Junior bankers should relax about the threat to their jobs from AI and lean into opportunities to bluff their way to Wall Street glory.

A move back up in rates is creating a PR battle among Wall Street banks. JPMorgan was punished for a cautious outlook, Goldman Sachs promoted strong fixed income trading results and Bank of America projected a Zen approach to rate moves.

JPMorgan Private Bank wins the family office award thanks to the quality and range of products, services and advice it provides wealthy Asian families.

JPMorgan Private Bank wins this award in recognition of its expertise and global connectivity in philanthropic advisory and services.

JPMorgan Private Bank wins the international private bank award for the power, range and expertise of its cross-business capabilities.

JPMorgan has been making a strong push in private banking in Europe, the Middle East and Africa over the past three years, substantially growing its numbers of advisers and clients, opening offices from Athens and Brussels to Copenhagen and Manchester, while taking advantage of its big technology budget to invest in new capabilities.

JPMorgan Private Bank has unveiled a host of new services in recent years, targeting key clients across North America, as well as world-wide.

JPMorgan’s wealth management business headed into the coronavirus pandemic with considerable momentum in high and ultra-high net-worth clients. It had only recently founded 23 Wall, a team to advise the biggest and wealthiest families on how to think strategically about the whole panoply of their private assets – everything from companies and property to sports teams and art.

The very best franchises serving family offices must get one thing right above all else: they must be able to deliver a customized offering that is sensitive to the particular needs of any client. The larger the institution, the more services it can deploy to do this, but the higher the risk of a cookie-cutter approach to clients, requiring them to adapt to the service provider rather than the other way around.

If JPMorgan Private Bank has one objective, it is to provide to clients that magic combination of an institution with the power of a global financial leader and the intimacy of a private-banking relationship. It is led by Mary Callahan Erdoes.

The award for the best international private bank in the Nordics and Baltics goes to JPMorgan Private Bank this year. Among other things, the US lender impressed the judging panel with the philanthropic commitments it has facilitated for clients in the region.