JPMorgan Chase & Co. is one of the biggest banks in the U.S.; it also may be one of the healthiest. A big task for the bank will be integrating its recent acquisitions of investment bank Bear Stearns Companies Inc. and Seattle thrift Washington Mutual Bank, rescues that were watershed events in the history of the U.S. financial system.
Under the leadership of Jamie Dimon, the bank is widely seen as one of the best-run financial institutions in the U.S. Its conservative culture has been cited as a reason why the bank escaped the worst of the credit crunch that doomed rivals. Management there has been described as free-form and little heed is paid to the chain of command. Dimon, a blunt-spoken dealmaker with a cadre of loyal lieutenants, is known to call underlings directly and subject them to grilling.
The company recently paid back the $25 billion it had received from the U.S. Treasury Department under the Troubled Asset Relief Program. It also disbanded a proprietary trading unit, assigning its staff to other trading desks and given less cash to work with, and also shut down its principal investment management group, which focused on hedge funds, leveraged buyouts and real estate.
The bank is on a hiring tear, planning to add 9,000 new employees across the U.S. It's expanding its retail operations, hiring 1,200 retail bankers and opening 120 branches by the end of 2010. It is adding 200 mortgage brokers in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut by the fall of 2009 to process loans and refinancings. It is also increasing small-business lending, looking to hire 325 more small-business bankers in the U.S., adding to its 1,900 bankers already working in the segment. Another significant push is in international corporate banking, hiring 300 bankers and targeting the U.K., Germany, Switzerland, China, India and Brazil.
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