By David Lewis, Nupur Anand, Duncan Miriri
NAIROBI/NEW YORK (Reuters) – JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon plans to travel to Africa in mid-October in a bid by the largest U.S. lender to expand on the continent, four sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, his first trip there in seven years.
Dimon is expected to visit Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Ivory Coast during the trip next month, two sources said. JPMorgan already has offices in South Africa and Nigeria where it offers asset and wealth management, as well as commercial and investment banking services.
Overseas markets have been a key focus area for generating growth for JPMorgan, which has assets worth more than $4.1 trillion and operations in more than 100 countries.
In 2018, Dimon said the lender would consider entering Ghana and Kenya. According to media reports, local regulators in those two countries had blocked JPMorgan’s growth plans.
Kenyan President William Ruto said in February 2023 after a meeting with a senior JPMorgan executive that the bank had committed to opening a new office in Nairobi.
It was not immediately clear how close JPMorgan is to opening in these countries.
Major global banks are seeking to acquire a greater share of sovereign debt and corporate transactions in Africa, analysts say, while also pursuing more international companies with operations on the continent, said Eric Musau, head of research at Nairobi-based Standard Investment. Bank.
International lenders are looking to boost their revenues by offering asset management services that provide access to investments such as offshore equities, debt and mutual funds, Musau added.
Banking giants are also offering private banking services, in an effort to differentiate themselves from local and regional lenders that dominate retail markets.
While most consumers on the continent access financial services through local and regional commercial banks, private banking is “where the next evolution will happen,” says Francis Mwangi, CEO of Kestrel Capital, a Nairobi-based brokerage.
JPMorgan is among the top five global private banks in terms of assets under supervision and growth in overseas markets is a top priority, it said in May.
Over the past five years, about 700 bankers have been involved in the expansion to 27 new locations worldwide, helping the commercial and investment bank generate $2 billion in revenue, JPMorgan’s President Daniel Pinto told investors in May.
JPMorgan has an advisory board of international executives and former policymakers with ties to Africa, including Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who founded the Africa Governance Initiative. Major global lenders have adopted different strategies for individual sub-Saharan markets, focusing on the fastest growing areas while seeking to differentiate themselves from local and regional competitors. Standard Chartered has focused on markets such as Kenya. Assets under management in the East African country grew by a quarter last year to 185.5 billion Kenyan shillings ($1.4 billion).
The lender sold its subsidiaries in Angola, Cameroon, Gambia and Sierra Leone last year.
($1 = 128.5000 Kenyan shillings)
