JPMorgan Chase & Co at Bank of America Financial Services Conference Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Ebrahim Poonawala - BofA Global Research - Analyst : And I said this to the team when we are preparing for this. I was like, it's hard for me to do this Q&A not to ask, Jenn, first of all, in terms of walking us through the thought process of taking the COO role, which are big shoes to fill in their own right, but then also removing yourself from the CEO succession sort of I guess consideration so. Tell us why.

Question: Ebrahim Poonawala - BofA Global Research - Analyst : That's fair. I was going through -- and you're right, I think. I was doing my homework over the weekend, and I was like, you've been at JPMorgan all these years in this Controller, CFO, co-CIO, co-CEO of the consumer bank, co-CEO of the corporate investment bank, now the COO, and I got to tell myself, I was like, there's only one role she's not done yet. But give us in terms of the transition -- you've been at JP Morgan for all these years in these different businesses. When we think about the COO role, it can be all encompassing in terms of, it means different things for different organizations. What does it mean for JPMorgan and how do you prepare yourself and transition into that seat? Yeah. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. FEBRUARY 11, 2025 / 6:00PM, JPM.N - JPMorgan Chase & Co at Bank of America Financial Services Conference

Question: Ebrahim Poonawala - BofA Global Research - Analyst : I'd like to come back to some of these. But maybe before we get to the bank and sort of double take on some of the issues you mentioned, just talk to us about the macro operating backdrop as you think about internally what you're hearing from bankers, the clients. There is some optimism around the policy backdrop, but you also had headwinds in terms of what, tariffs, immigration, higher rates than expected could mean. Would love to get your perspective.

Question: Ebrahim Poonawala - BofA Global Research - Analyst : I think you phrased it well in terms of taking out all the oxygen in the room. I think Mary Erdoes was at Davos and talked about having war rooms set up to kind of analyze what the executive orders coming out of the administration. Like talk to me, as the Chief Operating Officer now, how does a firm like JPMorgan digest what's coming out and implications both for the bank and for your clients?

Question: Ebrahim Poonawala - BofA Global Research - Analyst : Got it. I guess maybe coming back to the bank and maybe about halfway through the first quarter, just talk to us in terms of activity that you're seeing, particularly on the capital markets front.

Question: Ebrahim Poonawala - BofA Global Research - Analyst : Sounds constructive. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. FEBRUARY 11, 2025 / 6:00PM, JPM.N - JPMorgan Chase & Co at Bank of America Financial Services Conference

Question: Ebrahim Poonawala - BofA Global Research - Analyst : As of Feb 11 that is.

Question: Ebrahim Poonawala - BofA Global Research - Analyst : But just talk to us. So it's interesting, right? You talked about these policy uncertainties, but it seems like the corporates are moving. When you think about M&A, just you're seeing that a little bit more on the capital markets side. Talk to us, if you can, in terms of the M&A pipeline, and is there enough certainty for corporates to actually act on strategic actions, given how much of a headwind antitrust DOJ had become to M&A over the last few years?

Question: Ebrahim Poonawala - BofA Global Research - Analyst : Got it. And I guess, taking this to lending, but we've not really seen many tangible signs of life. Talk to us what you're seeing from commercial bankers, commercial clients around drawing down on lines, borrowing more. Is that any green shoots there?

Question: Ebrahim Poonawala - BofA Global Research - Analyst : Got it. Maybe just going back to the bank in terms of -- I think it's about over a year since we combined organizationally, the commercial bank and the investment bank. If you don't mind reminding us the thought process on bringing these together, and how smooth has the integration been so far?

Question: Ebrahim Poonawala - BofA Global Research - Analyst : Got it. That's helpful perspective. Any areas of friction when you think about just combining these businesses together? Does that require changing incentives? Or does it lead to natural attrition, where there are folks who enjoyed the way things were the old way are not on board with the new plan, any of that? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. FEBRUARY 11, 2025 / 6:00PM, JPM.N - JPMorgan Chase & Co at Bank of America Financial Services Conference

Question: Ebrahim Poonawala - BofA Global Research - Analyst : Got it. And maybe sticking with sort of growth and scale in the markets, CIB had a good year in terms of market share growth. One means -- when you look at that business, the best market share opportunities across that business, just talk to us around where do you see those opportunities. And what does the bank need to do? Is it macro? Is it something -- what you described with the combination of the commercial and investment bank? What needs to happen to gain even more market share?

Question: Ebrahim Poonawala - BofA Global Research - Analyst : Investment banking. Yeah.

Question: Ebrahim Poonawala - BofA Global Research - Analyst : Got it. And maybe if you could spend a few minutes on the payments business. It's a huge focus from an investor standpoint, but I think there's a lot that gets thrown under the payments umbrella. So give us a sense of what the payments business means for JPMorgan and then the growth runway that you have and the investments that you made in the business over the last several years.

Question: Ebrahim Poonawala - BofA Global Research - Analyst : Interesting. And I guess maybe rightly or wrongly, blockchain, digital assets, crypto get tied to payments and what a more defined regulatory backdrop could mean for digital assets within the construct of payments. So I mean, JPMorgan has had the JPMorgan Coin for a long, long time for your own clients. So one, how do you use digital assets today in terms of the JPMorgan Coin? And what will having a regulatory framework allow you to do that you're not doing today?

Question: Ebrahim Poonawala - BofA Global Research - Analyst : In your view -- I know this only in a limited extent, but if I go back five, six, seven years ago, there was a lot of enthusiasm around blockchain and what it could mean on efficiencies. Obviously, you use a lot of the technology at the bank, but has it progressed slower than you would have expected if you go back six, seven years ago in terms of its adoption and how much it's going to be used within banking?

Question: Ebrahim Poonawala - BofA Global Research - Analyst : Why is that?

Question: Ebrahim Poonawala - BofA Global Research - Analyst : Yeah, makes sense. I guess switching to when we think about what regulation has meant, I think one of the byproducts being a lot of emergence of non-bank competition just across different businesses. So take it whichever way you want, but just talk to us, when you think about non-bank competition be it in trading or fintech, what does that mean? Where do you see the biggest threats to the bank or to the banking industry?

Question: Ebrahim Poonawala - BofA Global Research - Analyst : I guess maybe switching to expenses, and when we think about the CIB, it was a good year from a positive operating leverage perspective. It just means JPMorgan is known for making a lot of investments all the time. When we think about what's already been invested and the operating leverage that's embedded in the franchise, just talk to us what we should expect going forward.

Question: Ebrahim Poonawala - BofA Global Research - Analyst : Got it. I guess maybe going back to -- I think you touched upon this in the beginning around tech spend and data. Just give us a mark-to-market on where the franchise is in terms of big technology investments. And what are the top two or three priorities for you as you look out the next few years?

Question: Ebrahim Poonawala - BofA Global Research - Analyst : The banks are all about AI, so -- but on that, right? I think when you think about technologies impacted productivity in banking for decades, when we think about using your metric around unit costs, in terms of what you've achieved over the last 5, 10, 15 years, is the runway even greater going forward? And what role can AI play in bringing down those unit costs?

Question: Ebrahim Poonawala - BofA Global Research - Analyst : And anything anecdotally from the LLM and the AI assistant you all have internally? Like how has that impacted productivity?

Question: Ebrahim Poonawala - BofA Global Research - Analyst : And you talked earlier about the franchise moving to the cloud. What does it mean? So one, when you think about moving to the smart data centers or the cloud, when does that journey end or get close to the end? And what will that mean in terms of productivity, be it revenue growth, expenses? From an investor perspective, how should they think about what this actually means from an ROE, P&L standpoint?

Question: Ebrahim Poonawala - BofA Global Research - Analyst : We have time for one last question. I wanted to double-click on -- you mentioned international. And I think it's been interesting that you've seen a lot of global banks retrench and exit certain countries, et cetera. So when you think about the JPMorgan franchise, just talk to us in terms of the international opportunity across businesses, across markets. You mentioned a few earlier. Like how meaningful is that? And how excited are you about it?

Question: Ebrahim Poonawala - BofA Global Research - Analyst : Sounds like you're just getting started yet.

Question: Ebrahim Poonawala - BofA Global Research - Analyst : Thank you, Jenn. Thanks a lot for joining us.