Morning Coffee: JPMorgan is inviting bankers with niche skills to "just give us a call." Grumbling Goldman Sachs bankers are going
If you're a "topnotch" banker, an analyst or an investor with a specialty in "autonomous mobile robots" or maybe "unmanned systems" [drones], then Jamie Dimon at JPMorgan might take your call.
Get Morning Coffee ☕ in your inbox. Sign up here.
Yesterday, JPMorgan committed to funnelling $1.5 trillion in the next 10 years into industries that will bolster US security and resilience. The Financial Times notes that $10bn of this will come from JPMorgan itself. Dimon seems to feel a personal responsibility for the US's ability to defend itself and has accordingly devised his own investment strategy to strengthen national security policy, focused on: defense and aerospace, frontier technologies, energy technology, and supply chains and advanced manufacturing.
But as JPMorgan embarks upon this rescue mission, it doesn't seem to have sufficient bankers specialised in critical things like nanomaterials, grid resilience, mesh networks and critical minerals mining. Dimon wants more of these people. Business Insider reports that he's asking bankers with these specialities to get in touch. "If you think you're the right person, just give us a call," he declared yesterday. "We're very focused on people," Dimon added. "Some may come from inside. Some may be hired outside. But they're going to be your top bankers — working not just with the best companies in the world, but with governments around the world."
The "topnotch" bankers who heed the call won't be working with Dimon himself, but with Mary Callahan Erdoes, the CEO of JPMorgan's asset management business who is known for her large bonuses and appreciation of hard graft. They'll also be working with Doug Petno, the chief executive of the commercial bank, who is known for his wit.
JPMorgan was already on an investment banker hiring spree, and it's not clear whether these new recruits will have skills of relevance to national security too. It is, however, becoming clear that if you're a banker with a focus on the defence industry, then your star is rising.
Separately, there seems to be some whinging at Goldman Sachs. Reuters reports that senior bankers there have been leaving in the belief that they will be neither paid nor promoted. It notes that various senior bankers have left for JPMorgan (Brett Miller, Eric Quanbeck, Jonathan Slaughter) and that others have gone to join Vis Raghavan at Citi or to Wells Fargo and elsewhere.
More than a dozen have gone. Goldman Sachs doesn't seem to think it's a big deal. "Goldman Sachs succeeds because of our exceptional teams and strength of our franchise," a spokesperson told Reuters. The implication is that the departure of 12 disgruntled men will make no difference.
Meanwhile...
Investment banking revenues at Wall Street’s biggest banks are expected to top $9bn in the third quarter for the first time since 2021. That's up 14% on a year ago and 50% on the lows of 2023, but well down on the $13.4bn banks generated in Q3 2021. (Financial Times)
US ECM bankers are suffering from the government shutdown, which means it will be hard for them to do deals in the third quarter. With the SEC closed, companies have to wait 20 days after declaring their intention to IPO. This is too long in volatile markets where prices can change. (Bloomberg)
Strava wants to IPO in the US. It's invited banks including Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan to pitch for roles on the deal and is saying things like, “Growth profiles like ours . . . are particularly uncommon, especially at scale. It attracts a lot of attention — especially from bankers”. (Financial Times)
Apollo only has a team of 20 private equity professionals in London. Alex van Hoek, lead partner for European private equity at Apollo says there's more value in Europe than in the US. (Bloomberg)
Citi hired Edward Joudrey from Bank of America as co-head of UK and Europe sellside M&A, alongside Matias Brechner. It also hired Matt Merrimam from Deutsche Bank to report to Brechner and to Joudrey. (Bloomberg)
Nigel Farage is the UK's crypto saviour. “When it comes to your industry, when it comes to growth in this industry, then I am your champion. We will effectively bring crypto in from the cold.” (Financial Times)
A San Francisco venture capital firm fired all its analysts and is using LLMs instead. It's saying: "We fired our analysts and hired our LPs—empowering them with AI so they can focus on the most impactful work without the chore. Thus we get megafund-level resources on one-hundredth of the budget." (Investing)
People are digging for gold again. “I was jumping all around like you see in cartoons and stuff. It was worth $175. But then again, it was just sitting out there to be taken.” (WSJ)
Have a confidential story, tip, or comment you’d like to share? Contact: +44 7537 182250 (SMS, Whatsapp or voicemail). Telegram: @SarahButcher. Signal: sarahbutcher.22 Click here to fill in our anonymous form, or email editortips@efinancialcareers.com.
Bear with us if you leave a comment at the bottom of this article: comments are moderated intermittently by human beings. Sometimes these humans might be asleep, or away from their desks, so it may take a while for your comment to appear. You must take sole responsibility for comments you post on this site. We will take reasonable steps to weed out anything that we consider to be offensive or inappropriate.
