Jamie Dimon said JPMorgan Chase & Co. is taking steps to build out its business serving startups and venture capital firms after two prominent San Francisco Bay Area banks failed earlier this year.
“We have unbelievable products and services to bring to them,” the chief executive officer of the biggest US bank said in an interview Monday with Bloomberg Television. “But we have to deliver it to them in a way they actually like it and they want it.”
JPMorgan bought First Republic Bank in May in a government-led auction after the second-largest bank failure in US history. The California company specialized in serving wealthy clients, and was the second Bay Area lender to collapse, after Silicon Valley Bank failed in March.Play Video
Dimon said last month that his firm “gained a lot of clients very quickly,” and is building out its business focusing on startups and their VC backers, including “putting more bankers on the ground.” At JPMorgan’s investor day in March, the firm said it seeks to be the “most important financial partner across the entire venture capital ecosystem.”
Speaking Monday from a conference in London, Dimon said the market for initial public offerings is “open for now” with markets healthy and the economy still in good shape — though “maybe not for everybody.” The comments follow three prominent technology IPOs: UK chip designer Arm Holdings Plc, grocery-delivery startup Instacart and marketing and data-automation provider Klaviyo Inc.
Dimon also reiterated a warning on the economy that he’s been making for more than a year: While US consumers and businesses are in good shape now, there are major headwinds including quantitative tightening and geopolitical tensions.
“Be prepared for higher rates and slower growth,” Dimon said. “The worst case is stagflation.”
With Emily Chang.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.