- JPMorgan, headed up by CEO Jamie Dimon since 2005, is the biggest US bank by assets.
- Dimon has said the bank will spend as necessary to compete with threats like buy now, pay later.
- The bank’s spending spree has more recently attracted criticisms from investors.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
JPMorgan, the biggest US bank by assets, has been hyperfocused in recent years on maintaining its powerhouse status by investing in new technologies.
In 2021, CEO Jamie Dimon said the firm would spend “whatever it takes” to beat the competition, adding that as companies expand beyond just BNPL into other offerings like debit cards, they become even more of a threat.
This year, Dimon has come up against criticisms from investors over the bank’s rising expenses. But he shows no signs of backing down from his quest to remake the company at a time when more people are turning to their phones to cash checks, pay debts, or invest.
On May 23, the bank held its first investor day in two years with eye toward selling investors on its tech vision — including costs. JPMorgan said spending on tech alone will total $14.1 billion in 2022. Nearly half of that, or $6.7 billion, the bank’s CIO Lori Beer said in a presentation, will be spent “on change the bank” investments.
The bank’s investor day Monday encapsulated JPMorgan’s efforts to show investors that its spending plans will help it fend off the competition, adapt to evolving consumer tastes, attract more Gen Z customers, and hopefully help the bank save money in the long run.
Read the latest on JPMorgan’s battle with fintechs:
Inside JPMorgan’s massive tech org
Eric Kayne/AP Images for JPMorgan Chase & Co.
JPMorgan has a $14.6 billion annual tech budget and employs about 50,000 technologists. Underpinning all of that is Lori Beer, JPMorgan’s global chief information officer, and her team of top tech brass.
Beer joined JPMorgan in 2014 as the CIO of corporate and investment banking. In 2017 she was named global CIO and joined the bank’s operating committee, reporting directly to Jamie Dimon, the CEO and chairman.
Insider mapped out the key tech executives at JPMorgan who report to Beer and help her lead the bank’s massive tech org. Many on her team are focused on specific business lines. There are chief information officers appointed to divisions like corporate and investment banking, asset and wealth management, and consumer and community banking.
Some executives work across the bank, focusing on areas like employee experience and technology architecture. Others, like Monika Panpaliya, the head of JPMorgan’s global technology-product office, are running their groups to operate more like startups.
Keep reading:
JPMorgan’s rising stars are often in tech roles
Allison Beer
In an effort to fend off the competition, adapt to evolving consumer tastes, and attract more Gen Z customers, JPMorgan has taken to hiring aggressively to maintain its dominant position, including a chief information officer from Lyft and a head of content from Robinhood.
The hiring spree is resulting ina very different JPMorgan from the one that survived the financial crisis and is creating a new center of gravity when it comes to the reins of power there.
JPMorgan announced in September 2021 that Alison Beer would take over as CEO of cards for Chase, its
consumer-banking
division. She’s the third woman in a row to run the bank’s cards business, and she stepped into the role after Marianne Lake was promoted this spring to co-lead the firm’s massive consumer and community banking business alongside Jennifer Piepszak.
The bank has also been hiring aggressivley from Goldman Sachs’ consumer bank Marcus.
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