JP Morgan Chase

Type: Public (NYSE: JPM, TYO: 8634 )
Founded: 1799
Headquarters: New York City, USA
Key people: Jamie Dimon, Chairman, President & CEO
Industry: Finance and Insurance
Products: Financial Services
Website: www.jpmorganchase.com, www.jpmorgan.com, www.chase.com

General Information

JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM TYO: 8634 ) is one of the oldest financial services firms in the world. The company, headquartered in New York City, is one of the leaders in investment banking, financial services, asset and wealth management and private equity. With assets of $1.4 trillion, JPMorgan Chase is currently the third largest banking institution in the United States, behind Bank of America and Citigroup. The hedge fund unit of JPMorgan Chase is the largest hedge fund in the United States with $34 billion in assets as of 2007. Formed in 2000 with the merger of the Chase Manhattan Corporation and J.P. Morgan & Co., the firm serves millions of consumers in the United States and many of the world's most prominent corporate, institutional and governmental clients.

In 2004, the company merged with Bank One of Chicago, bringing on board Bank One CEO Jamie Dimon as president and COO of the merged firm and designating him as CEO William B. Harrison, Jr.'s future successor. Dimon quickly made his influence felt by embarking on a cost-cutting strategy and placing some former Bank One executives in key ranks at the new company. Dimon became CEO in January 2006, and also became chairman in December 2006.

Offices

Although Chase Manhattan Bank's headquarters were once located at the One Chase Manhattan Plaza building in downtown Manhattan, the current world headquarters for JPMorgan Chase & Co. are located at 270 Park Avenue. The bank moved some of its operations to the JPMorgan Chase Tower (formerly Texas Commerce Bank Tower) in Houston, Texas, when it purchased Texas Commerce Bank. Since merging with Bank One in 2004, retail services (branded as 'Chase') are headquartered in Chicago. The Card Services division has its headquarters in Wilmington, DE. There are also large operations centers in Brooklyn, NY, Columbus, OH, Dallas, TX, Fort Worth, TX, Indianapolis, IN, Newark, DE, Phoenix, AZ, Glasgow, United Kingdom and Bournemouth, United Kingdom. The backoffice and Technology operations offices based in Manila in the Philippines, and Mumbai and Bangalore, India are currently being aggressively staffed.

JPMorgan Securities, the investment banking arm of JPMorgan, also maintains a number of high-profile offices around the globe, with the largest concentrations in London, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Tokyo. The bulk of North American operations, however, take place in three buildings located within a few blocks of each other on Park Avenue in New York City: the former Union Carbide Building at 270 Park Avenue, the hub of sales and trading operations, and the original Chemical Bank building at 277 Park Avenue, where most investment banking activity takes place. Also, their asset and wealth management groups are located at 245 Park Avenue.