By Nupur Anand
NEW YORK (Reuters) – JPMorgan Chase sees signs of an improving economy in China that will strengthen the bank’s business in the country after a sluggish period, asset and wealth management CEO Mary Erdoes said.
U.S. companies are assessing their prospects in China as the economy recovers unevenly and relations between the two countries deteriorate. For banks, sluggish capital markets have negatively impacted activity in China, and investors are watching the impact of government stimulus measures on the economy.
“The business environment in China has been challenging in recent years, but sentiment has become more optimistic in March,” Erdoes said in an interview at the bank’s headquarters in New York.
Chinese consumer spending is showing some signs of recovery, and while the country still faces real estate problems, the government is exploring ways to solve them, both “positive signs,” she said.
Erdoes, one of four executives recently identified by the bank’s board as a potential successor to CEO Jamie Dimon if he eventually steps down, visited China last month to give a presentation at an annual Global China summit hosted by the bank in Shanghai.
Attendance rose from last year to more than 3,000 delegates from 33 countries as clients tried to gauge whether to revive their investments in China, she said.
“Long-term investors know and understand that China is a very important market, and we continue to grow and expand our business there,” she said, without giving further details.
JPMorgan became the first foreign owner of a brokerage firm in China in 2021, and its asset management unit in China employs 400 people. It is among countries that have cut jobs in the country this year, Reuters reported last month.
Dimon said in Shanghai last month that parts of his investment banking business in China had “fallen off a cliff” in recent years, the Financial Times reported.
Erdoes, whose company manages more than $5 trillion in assets, convened a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and American billionaires in New York in September to discuss investments in Ukraine, a country she has visited four times.
The lender has provided Zelenskiy with advice on economic policy and growth, and Erdoes gathered more billionaires in Davos, Switzerland, in January to discuss aid and investment options in Ukraine after the war with Russia ends.
“We are working on development issues critical to their reconstruction efforts and exploring ways to connect customers with the business community there once a peaceful resolution is hopefully reached,” Erdoes said.
The World Bank estimates that Ukraine needs almost $500 billion to rebuild its economy.
Erdoes has taken a personal interest in the country and will travel to Poland with her family, including her three daughters, to volunteer at an orphanage for Ukrainian children in 2022.
She and her family have raised more than $92,000 for charities that support Ukrainian families, according to a fundraising site that the bank confirmed was set up by her family.
SUCCESSION
JPMorgan’s shares are up nearly 17% so far this year, lagging its biggest peers but outperforming a broader S&P index of bank stocks.
Dimon, who has led the largest U.S. lender for more than 18 years, said he plans to step down within five years.
Besides Erdoes, other contenders for the top spot include Jennifer Piepszak and Troy Rohrbaugh, co-CEOs of the commercial and investment bank, and Marianne Lake, CEO of consumer and community banking.
If JPMorgan chooses a woman as CEO, she would be only the second female head of a major Wall Street bank, after Citigroup’s Jane Fraser was appointed in 2021.
“Building a diverse workplace is not something you do in one day,” said Erdoes. “We have been on this journey for decades.”
