Jamie Dimon, Chairman and Group CEO of JPMorgan Chase, has stated that the investment bank is actively searching for its next ‘big acquisition target’.
Speaking to investors at JPMorgan’s New York AGM, Dimon underlined the firm’s ‘aggressive intention’ to secure ‘acquisitions across the board’, helping JPMorgan maintain its position at the top of the investment banking dinner table.
JPMorgan’s executive team will lead its acquisition drive, with global finance’s ‘deepest pockets’, as the investment bank closed its 2019 accounts recording corporate profits of $37 billion.
Furthermore, JPMogan’s results secured investors an ‘all-time high’ share price, as Dimon fulfilled his prophecy that JPMorgan would surpass rival Goldman Sachs as global finance’s most valuable asset under his stewardship.
Fintech incumbents have been put on notice as Dimon states JPMorgan’s acquisition strategy will be ‘technology-centric’.
JPMorgan executives are reported to be targeting tech assets which will complement the firm’s recent acquisition of digital payment solution WePay and US healthcare funding network InstaMed.
Dimon underlined that targets could be ‘anywhere within financial services and technology’, with the exception of acquiring smaller banks or funds, which would face heavy due diligence from regulators.
Entering a new decade, Dimon underlined that JPMorgan’s competitor mindset had vastly changed, with the bank’s acquisition motives led by the growing threat of Silicon Valley tech giants Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook, as well as potential Fintech incumbents.
“That’s simply the world we are going to face, and JPMorgan Chase is prepared for these challenges,” Dimon told investors.
Moving JPMorgan forward, Dimon further underlines that he the investment bank is unafraid of ‘growing organic verticals’ versus all growth driven by an out-and-out acquisition strategy
This February, Dimon revealed that JPMorgan was in late-stage discussions with UK regulators to launch a new ‘consumer-facing banking proposition’ under its Chase brand.
The aptly named ‘Chase UK’ is set to offer a wide range of consumer banking services including savings and loan products, which will debut later this year.
In his announcement of Chase UK’s plans, Dimon disclosed that an unnamed British business figurehead would lead the firm’s new division.
