JPMorgan’s head of assets and wealth sees China’s economic outlook improving By Reuters

By Nupur Anand

NEW YORK (Reuters) – JPMorgan Chase is seeing signs of an improving economy in China that will bolster the bank’s business in the country after a slow period, its asset and wealth management CEO Mary Erdoes said.

US companies are assessing their prospects in China as its economy recovers unevenly and relations between the two nations deteriorate. For banks, sluggish capital markets have weighed on activity in China and investors are watching the effect of government support measures on the economy.

“The business environment in China has been challenging in recent years, but the sentiment started to get stronger in March,” Erdoes said in an interview at the bank’s New York headquarters.

China’s consumer spending is showing some signs of recovery, and while the country is still grappling with real estate problems, the government is looking at ways to fix 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 when he eventually leaves, visited China last month to appear at an annual Global China Summit hosted by the bank in Shanghai.

Attendance increased from last year to more than 3,000 delegates from 33 countries as clients sought to assess whether to revive their investments in China, she said.

“Long-term investors know and understand that China is a very important market and we are continuing to grow and expand our business there,” she said, without elaborating.

JPMorgan became the first foreign owner of a brokerage in China in 2021, and its China asset management unit employs 400 people. It was among those that cut jobs in the country this year, Reuters reported last month.

Dimon said last month in Shanghai that parts of his investment banking business in China had “fallen off a cliff” in recent years, the Financial Times reported.

Erdoes, whose business manages more than $5 trillion in assets, in September called a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and American billionaires in New York to discuss investments in Ukraine, a country she has visited four times.

The lender has offered Zelenskiy advice on economic policies and growth, and Erdoes gathered more billionaires in Davos, Switzerland in January to discuss aid and investment opportunities 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 business there once a peaceful solution is reached,” Erdoes said.

The World Bank estimates that Ukraine may need almost $500 billion to rebuild its economy.

Erdoes has shown a personal interest in the country, traveling with her family, including her three daughters, to Poland to volunteer at an orphanage for Ukrainian children in 2022.

She and her family raised more than $92,000 for charities supporting Ukrainian families, according to a fundraising page the bank confirmed was set up by her family.

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JPMorgan shares are up almost 17% so far this year, lagging its larger peers but outperforming a broader S&P index of bank stocks.

Dimon, who has run the largest U.S. lender for more than 18 years, said he plans to retire in less than five years.

Along with Erdoes, other contenders identified for the top job are Jennifer Piepszak and Troy Rohrbaugh, co-CEOs of its commercial and investment bank, and Marianne Lake, CEO of consumer and community banking.

If JPMorgan picks 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 a day,” Erdoes said. “We’ve been on this journey for many decades.”