You joined J.P. Morgan as a graduate in 1999 and have since held senior roles across Europe, Hong Kong and New York. Looking back, which phase of this journey most fundamentally shaped how you lead today, and why?
It is difficult, over a 27‑year career, to single out one moment that shaped me more than others, because there are different phases as you go through your career. Going to Asia was probably the biggest challenge, the biggest opportunity, and the moment that opened my eyes to different clients, markets, opportunities and ways of thinking. The diversity in that part of the world has definitely shaped a lot of my thinking over the last 10 years.
You are co-leading Global Banking at a time of strong deal pipelines, technological change and geopolitical uncertainty. What do you consider the most important part of your mandate in this environment?
If you take a step back, you can ask what the social contract of a bank with the communities where it operates really is. We operate for the betterment of those communities: to provide economic growth and help people achieve their dreams. You can define community as a small village, a city, a country, a region or an entire sector of the economy.
Ultimately, the most important thing we can do in our day‑to‑day work is to help clients achieve their objectives, no more and no less. How you do that can vary, but right now clients mainly need support in navigating volatile times: the business cycle, geopolitical headwinds and the changes happening in AI. We help them realize opportunities amid uncertainty. Moments like this are when you step in and invest further to make sure clients feel you are there for them and for their long‑term journey – for 10, 20, 30 or 50 years as they go through their corporate development.
In Davos 2026 you described J.P. Morgan’s M&A pipeline as “the strongest we’ve ever seen”, with several very large transactions in the market at the same time. What, in your view, are the key forces that make conditions for big strategic deals so favorable right now?
I stand by what I said in Davos in January. However, we also need to recognize that a lot has changed since then. These include developments in the Middle East, the war in Ukraine, higher oil prices and other factors.
In general, some of the key themes that were present at the beginning of January, and that are driving the M&A agenda in 2026, are still there. The enormous transformation triggered by AI is one of them. It is a structural theme, and companies are reacting and preparing for what they need to do.
A more favorable regulatory environment in the United States is helping clients think strategically. The cost of financing remains relatively low, although there have been some changes, especially in March. Themes like rethinking geographic footprints and dealing with supply‑chain disruption were already there and remain relevant today.
We have not yet seen transactions being pulled because of recent events, but it would not surprise me if a prolonged crisis in the Middle East were to lead to a slowdown.
You said recently that you are “hiring in every country, pretty much across the region” as Europe’s M&A volumes pick up again. What does this hiring wave tell you about how Europe’s corporate landscape is evolving, and in which markets or sectors do you see this transformation most visibly taking shape?
We are investing globally and in Europe. This follows a strategic decision that the firm took with the board in late spring 2024. I announced it at Investor Day in May 2024, and we are now executing on that strategy, which means expanding our global banking franchise across the world.
For Europe, this is particularly meaningful because Europe remains our spiritual home. J.P. Morgan Chase today is the result of the merger of several historic financial institutions. Broadly speaking, there are three main branches of the family: J.P. Morgan, Chase and Bank One. The two most prominent names that remain are J.P. Morgan and Chase.
The JP Morgan side of the family was actually born in London in the 1860s. The company was founded there by J.P. Morgan’s father, Junius Spencer Morgan, to finance the industrialization of America with European capital. J.P. Morgan was born in London. He studied in Switzerland and then moved to the United States in the late 1870s. For us, Europe is therefore our spiritual home. We operate in around 35 countries in Europe. We employ over 23,000 people in the UK and 9,000 in the rest of the region, more than 30,000 people across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Investing in these countries to hire more bankers is ultimately about supporting and covering more clients. So the purpose is simple: to serve more clients, as well as we can.
In past interviews you highlighted India’s “exceptional transformation” and strong domestic markets, while also noting geopolitical questions around China and calling Asia “supremely interesting”. How are these shifts in Asian growth and risk profiles feeding into the cross‑border deals and capital flows you see from your seat in Global Banking?
By the end of this decade, the second, third and fourth‑largest economies in the world are likely to be in Asia. In the early 2030s, around 50% of global GDP could be located in Asia‑Pacific, which fundamentally shifts the center of gravity of the global economy.
You have Japan, China and India, but also Australia from a critical‑minerals standpoint and Korea with technologies that the West needs. You have the whole of Southeast Asia and several very large countries in terms of population. Together, this creates a concentration of growth, capital and innovation that is hard to ignore.
In a world where globalization is still very much present, you need to know how to deal with Asia because more and more flows of goods, trade, finance and ideas originate in that part of the world. It is very difficult to call yourself a global financial institution if you are not able to support your clients in Asia‑Pacific.
Whether you have European clients selling into Asia‑Pacific, manufacturing there, or facing competition from that region, you need to be able to guide them through developments on the ground and translate what is happening there into strategic decisions.
In Asia-Pacific you spent years building J.P. Morgan’s presence in markets like China, India and Hong Kong. How does that experience influence the way you look at Europe’s role in global capital flows today?
Europe is a more stable market, and therefore everything operates at a different pace. In some ways, dealing with Europe is easier because the European Union provides a unified set of countries with freedom of movement for people, capital and goods, which helps a lot. On the other hand, Europe is more codified from a regulatory standpoint, so certain things happen more slowly than in the United States or other regions.
Europe nonetheless has enormous opportunities ahead, driven by geopolitical shifts and the disruption caused by AI. It is important that Europe steps up and grows in the face of these challenges, becomes more self‑sufficient and further develops its capital markets.
One lesson from Asia that also applies to Europe is this: if you build the right In global banking, we have clients across
infrastructure and are consistently there for your clients, they will come to you. They need banks with a large balance sheet, a broad presence and the ability to deal with problems globally.
JP Morgan plans to invest about 19.8 billion dollars in technology in 2026, continues to expand its AI initiatives, and has announced that Chase will become the new issuer of Apple Card. How do you expect moves like these to shape the future relationship between global banks and big tech, and where do you see the key strategic upside for Global Banking in that development?
Business today is fundamentally based on technology. In global banking, we have clients across different industries, and you cannot reach and support them as you did 100 years ago. You need technology to help you in that process, and the world is changing rapidly.
We are at a major turning point when it comes to AI and what it can bring. AI is only one of the changes we are facing; the next one will be quantum computing, which will be even more disruptive.
We therefore need to keep investing in technology to serve even more clients or to serve them better. Technology enables things that would have been unthinkable only a few years ago. For example, we can cover 100,000 clients with roughly the same number of resources; 10 years ago, we would have needed to build much more physical infrastructure.
Technology creates efficiencies that would otherwise not be available. With these opportunities also come acute challenges, and we need to be prepared for them.
Over your career you have helped steer J.P. Morgan through major shifts in markets, regions and business mix. Is there one specific decision or project that, in your view, best captures how you like to lead large, complex organizations?
There have been several such moments. When I was in Asia, I became CEO of the region just as COVID hit. Asia was the first part of the world affected by the pandemic. There was no rulebook you could consult that said how to deal with a global pandemic. To a large extent, we had to make the rules ourselves.
We wrote policies and procedures on our own, and many of the measures we implemented in Asia between January and mid‑March 2020 later became global rules and policies for the whole firm. That was definitely a pivotal moment.
Another pivotal experience is the work I am doing now on integrating investment banking, commercial banking and corporate banking. Consider the scale: last year this line of business generated around 37 billion dollars in revenue and 12 billion in net profit. We have just under 20,000 employees in global banking, including support functions. Bringing these three large businesses together is very exciting.
What advice would you give to students and young graduates who are considering a career in global banking today?
In my office I have a framed Japanese saying that reads “always learning, always younger”. In the Western world we might say “embrace lifelong learning”, but the idea is the same. You need to keep learning and embracing the changes that come with it.
So, my first piece of advice is: keep learning. Embrace change, because it is part of the world we live in, and those who adapt best to change are the ones who will be most successful. Integrity and ethics are fundamental; never take shortcuts. Understand that success is a team effort. There is no “I” in “team”; the team is fundamental. Finally, treat others the way you would like to be treated yourself. As you progress in your career, remember to treat everyone around you accordingly.
