JPMorgan Aims to Expand in Africa and Scandinavia

America’s largest bank is increasing its expansion efforts outside the U.S.

J.P. Morgan Chase is hiring bankers in cities like Stockholm and Copenhagen to expand its Nordic business and take on European banks, officials from the lender told Bloomberg News in an interview Wednesday (Sept. 18).

And a report Wednesday from Reuters notes that CEO Jamie Dimon plans to travel to Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Ivory Coast next month to boost the bank’s expansion in Africa.

According to the Bloomberg report, J.P. Morgan already employs more than 100 staff in the Nordic capitals, more than doubling its headcount in the region in the last four years.

“We’re hiring as we speak in investment banking, in corporate banking and in private banking and across seniority,” Jonas Wikmark, co-head of J.P. Morgan’s Nordic unit, told Bloomberg. 

“There is an extra focus on the mid-cap space to serve corporates, private equity as well as early earlier stage companies with our new innovation economy team.”

Dimon’s visit to Africa in October will mark his first trip to the continent in seven years, the Reuters report said, citing four sources familiar with the matter. The bank already has offices in South Africa and Nigeria, offering asset and wealth management along with commercial and investment banking services.

The report cites comments from analysts who say that major global banks want to snatch up a larger share of sovereign debt and corporate transactions in Africa, while also trying to stand out from local banks by offering private banking.

Meanwhile, PYMNTS last month examined J.P. Morgan’s plans to expand its U.S. branch footprint through the lens of efforts by banks to attract younger consumers.

The bank hopes to open 500 new branches in the next three years, while refurbishing another 1,700 locations. J.P. Morgan’s most recent earnings report showed the bank operating 4,884 branches at the end of the second quarter of 2024.

“For the banks building out their operations, the landscape of what they need to offer and who they are catering to needs to change,” PYMNTS wrote.

Gen Z accounts for about a fifth of the U.S. population, and has robust spending power, but it’s also a somewhat fickle generation, the report noted.

Research from the PYMNTS Intelligence report “Growing Credit Union Membership via Lending and Omnichannel Banking Innovation” shows that 42% of Gen Zers who bank with credit unions had changed their banking relationship in the last 12 months, as have 44% of Gen Zers who bank with traditional financial institutions.