JPMorgan chief executive officer Jamie Dimon. — Bloomberg
NEW YORK: JPMorgan Chase, the largest US lender, plans to enter Kenya and Ivory Coast this year and grow its footprint in Africa, chief executive officer Jamie Dimon says.
International markets are a growth area for JPMorgan, which has more than US$4.2 trillion in assets and operates in over 100 countries.
That compares with Citigroup, which does business in almost 180 countries and has the largest global footprint among US banking giants.
“We want to add a country or two to enter or deepen our presence in Africa, every couple of years or so,” Dimon said by phone from New York last Friday before departing on a trip to Africa.
The countries and pace of expansion have not previously been reported.
Dimon will hold meetings in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa on the tour, Reuters reported last month.
“This will allow us to be on the ground in these countries which gives you a lot more local knowledge and relationships,” Dimon said.
“And when you do it, you basically will cover the government, maybe some big government enterprises and the multinationals that are going in there with traditional banking services,” he added.
In Kenya and Ivory Coast, the bank will focus on commercial and investment banking, treasury services, and possibly some lending, Dimon said.
In those two countries, it has no immediate plans to offer asset and wealth management (AWM) services, which are already available in South Africa and Nigeria.
“We are not doing AWM now but that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t happen in the next few years,” Dimon said.
JPMorgan’s earlier aspirations to enter Ghana and Kenya in the last several year were thwarted by regulators, according to media reports.
On Monday, the Central Bank of Kenya said it authorised JPMorgan to establish a representative office there.
In the past, “the US government was not very keen on banks expanding into different geographies, as this was just after the financial crisis,” Dimon said noting the United States is now more supportive.
It is a positive move if US financial institutions expand abroad, and the government should support such endeavours to compete overseas, he said, citing the broad footprint of Chinese companies and saying that US companies should also be in these places.
Major global lenders have adopted differing strategies for individual sub-Saharan markets, targeting the fastest-growing areas while seeking to distinguish themselves from local and regional competitors.
For instance, Standard Chartered has focused on Kenya. Its assets under management in the East African nation grew by a quarter last year to 185.5 billion Kenyan shillings or about US$1.4bil, it said.
The expansion may not have a material impact on JPMorgan’s business in the near term, but it will be beneficial for the company and future leaders in the long run, Dimon said.
JPMorgan is among the top five international banks by assets under supervision.
In the last five years, about 700 bankers have been involved in expanding into 27 new locations worldwide, generating US$2bil in revenue for its commercial and investment bank, executives told investors in May. — Reuters
