jpmorgan
In reversal, JPMorgan to cut 4,000 jobs
February 26, 2013: 12:28 PM ETA year ago CEO Jamie Dimon was still talking growth for his mega-bank.
JPMorgan's CEO Jamie Dimon
Update: 2/27/13, 10:30 AM.
FORTUNE -- An encounter with a whale can really change a fella.
A year ago, at JPMorgan's investor day, CEO Jamie Dimon said he believed his mega-bank was still too small. He said his firm would continue hiring and opening branches, even as the economy remained slow.
This year, it appears Dimon's tune has changed.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) kicked off this year's annual investor day on Tuesday, with plans to reduce headcount and expenses in 2013. The bank says it expects to eliminate 4,000 positions and cut costs by $1 billion over the course of the year.
And the cuts will accelerate next year. Later in the day, Dimon said that the bank plans to eliminate as many as 13,000 additional employees in 2014. Most of the cuts will come from the bank's mortgage banking unit.
That's good and bad news. In part, the cuts in its mortgage unit signal that the bank believes the worst of its home loan problems are behind it.
But it also shows how, after a year dealing with a multi-billion dollar trading loss, credit rating downgrades, increased regulations and a slow market for deals, even Dimon appears to be paring back his vision. JPMorgan's headcount rose by 20,000 in 2011 to just over 260,000, as others were shrinking.
MORE: JPMorgan: Don't blame us for the weak recovery
Now, even Wall Street's best performing bank can't avoid the pressure to slim down. In the past year or so, as banking profits have sagged with low interest rates and, at least until recently, few deals, there has been a race among Wall Street CEOs to prove their bank can be the most efficient.
In December, Citigroup (C) announced it would lay off 11,000 employees. In doing so, the bank touted that its so-called efficiency ratio would be among the lowest of the big banks. Goldman Sachs (GS) is also reportedly planning a new round of layoffs. Last year, Goldman executives talked about their desire to be Wall Street's low cost provider. Not exactly Master of the Universe talk.
Even with the job cuts, JPMorgan will still be plenty big. The firm's head count fell modestly in 2012 to 258,000 employees. That's up from just over 180,000 five years ago.
Update: An earlier version of this story said that JPMorgan planned to cut 19,000 jobs from its community and mortgage banking units by the end of 2014, but had not made a comment about overall staffing levels for 2014. In fact, Dimon clarified that number later in the day.
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JPMorgan's trading debacle: why $2 billion is just the start
The bank's bad bet could curtail profits for years to come.
Update May 13, 11:00 PM
FORTUNE -- For years, JPMorgan Chase (JPM), perhaps the riskiest bank in the world, got a pass. Sure there were minor hiccups along the way. But basically investors had the attitude with the bank run by Jamie Dimon that they were going to be hands off. Sub-prime mortgage loans: You've proved you can handle them. Foreclosure MORE
Stephen Gandel, senior editor - May 11, 2012 2:02 PM ET -
Jamie Dimon failed Crisis Management 101
JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon strenuously denied that a trader's positions may have been problematic before he had investigated it. His bravado backfired.
By Roger Ehrenberg, contributor
FORTUNE -- With the web afire with criticism over JP Morgan's recently announced (and unexpected) $2 billion trading loss, a few "life lessons" came to mind as to how Jamie Dimon - and his PR department - bungled this badly:
Know the facts before taking a MORE
May 11, 2012 11:29 AM ET -
JPMorgan's plastic explosives
Do we have a credit-card robosigning scandal on our hands?
A report Friday suggests that the banks' contemptible failure to maintain proper records– exposed during the foreclosure scandals of the past year – hasn't been limited to their boom-and-bust mortgage businesses.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) has dropped more than a thousand debt-collection suits aimed at people who defaulted on their credit cards, the Wall Street Journal reports. The decision to drop some suits in five MORE
Colin Barr - Jun 24, 2011 9:59 AM ET -
Bankers skate again in SEC-JPMorgan deal
The government took another whack at the banks Tuesday, but individual bankers continue to skate by unscathed.
The Securities and Exchange Commission scored a $154 million settlement with JPMorgan Chase (JPM) over its misleading bond-sales practices during the bubble.
In a replay of the Abacus case against Goldman Sachs (GS), the SEC charged JPMorgan Chase with admitting* it misled investors by failing to mention that the securities they were buying were being MORE
Colin Barr - Jun 21, 2011 3:51 PM ET -
Miller time for top JPMorgan exec
JPMorgan Chase said Heidi Miller, one of the top women in banking and a longtime ally of CEO Jamie Dimon, will retire early next year.
The announcement comes just a year after Dimon tapped Miller (right) to head the No. 2 U.S. bank's international push. Dimon said last June that creating that job would "augment -- not replace -- business lines around the world, helping them accelerate and prioritize their efforts and MORE
Colin Barr - Jun 14, 2011 5:09 PM ET -
Elizabeth Warren won a round, but can't win the fight
How is it possible that a straight-talking grandmother from the Midwest can't win over Congress to run an agency created to help consumers with their finances?
FORTUNE -- Which one of his constituents was Representative Patrick McHenry (R-NC) acting in the interests of when he attacked Elizabeth Warren on Tuesday? Was it the broke homeowner in the Blue Ridge Mountains? Or the laid off textile worker in Rutherford County? Somehow I MORE
Duff McDonald, Contributing Editor - May 26, 2011 10:19 AM ET -
J.P. Morgan bankers in line for 34% raise: update
Who says there's no wage growth in the United States?
Bankers at J.P. Morgan, the investment banking unit of JPMorgan Chase (JPM), are in line for a 34% raise this year, if the bank keeps paying at its torrid first-quarter clip.
The investment bank set aside $3.3 billion for compensating its 26,494 workers in the first quarter. That's equivalent to $124,330 for the quarter and projects to $497,320 for the year.
That compares MORE
Colin Barr - Apr 13, 2011 8:36 AM ET -
Jamie Dimon's silly housing subsidy
Let's say you're a giant bank with an extra 400 grand lying around. What to do with it?
You could pay six workers the median family income in your home state of New York, perhaps. Or you could pick up the moving expenses for your CEO, who made $20.8 million last year and $58 million over the past three – not counting the $2 million he just cleared on the sale MORE
Colin Barr - Apr 8, 2011 12:10 PM ET -
JPMorgan, Wells go dividend hiking
Big bank stocks took off after the Fed gave the nod to some long-awaited dividend hikes.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) was the first out of the gate, boosting its quarterly payout to a quarter from a nickel and setting up a $15 billion stock buyback plan to boot. Wells Fargo (WFC) and U.S. Bancorp (USB) quickly followed suit. Shares of all three rose 3% or so.
The rally came after the Federal Reserve said Friday it completed its MORE
Colin Barr - Mar 18, 2011 11:43 AM ET
