JPMorgan Chase

J.P.Morgan Chase & Co.

Type	Public (NYSE: JPM)
Founded	1799
Headquarters	New York City, USA
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	James L. Dimon (Chairman), (President) & (CEO)
Industry	Finance and insurance
Products	Financial services
Market cap	US$ 124.29 billion (2008)
Revenue	▲ US$ 116.353 billion (2007)[1]
Operating income	▲ US$ 46.133 billion (2007)[1]
Net income	▲ US$ 15.365 billion (2007)[1]
Total assets	▲ US$ 1.78 trillion (June 30, 2008)[2]
Total equity	▲ US$ 123.221 billion (2007)
Employees	228,452 (2008)
Website	www.jpmorganchase.com www.jpmorgan.com www.chase.com

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) is one of the oldest financial services firms in the world. It is a leader in financial services with assets of $2.3 trillion.^[3], and the largest market capitalization and deposit base of any U.S. banking institution . The hedge fund unit of JPMorgan Chase is the largest hedge fund in the United States with $34 billion in assets as of 2007.^[4] Formed in 2000 when Chase Manhattan Corporation acquired 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 Corp., bringing on board current chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon as president and COO and designating him as CEO William B. Harrison, Jr.'s successor. Dimon's pay was pegged at 90% of Harrison's. Dimon quickly made his influence felt by embarking on a cost-cutting strategy and replaced former JPMorgan Chase executives in key positions with Bank One executives—many of whom were with Dimon at Citigroup. Dimon became CEO in January 2006 and Chairman in December 2006.

The JPMorgan brand is used by the Investment Bank as well as the Asset Management, Private Banking, and Private Wealth Management divisions. Fiduciary activity within Private Banking and Private Wealth Management is done under the aegis of JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.—the actual trustee. The Chase brand is used for credit card services in the United States and Canada and the bank's retail banking activities in the United States.

On September 25, 2008 Washington Mutual Inc.'s subsidiary bank, Washington Mutual Bank was closed by the Office of Thrift Supervision, and placed into the receivership of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, in the largest failure by far of a U.S. bank. The FDIC sold the bank's assets, secured debt obligations and deposits to JPMorgan Chase & Co for $1.836 billion, which re-opened the bank the following day. As a result of the takeover, Washington Mutual shareholders lost all their equity.

Financial data

History

JPMorgan Chase, as it exists in 2008, is the result of the combination of several large U.S. banking companies over the last decade including Chase Manhattan Bank, J.P. Morgan & Co., Bank One, Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual. Going back further, its predecessors include major banking firms among which are Chemical Bank, Manufacturers Hanover, First Chicago Bank, National Bank of Detroit and Texas Commerce Bank.

Chemical Banking Corporation

The New York Chemical Manufacturing Company was founded in 1823 as a maker of various chemicals. In 1824, the company amended its charter to perform banking activities and created the Chemical Bank of New York. After 1851, the bank was separated from its parent and grew organically and through a series of mergers, most notably with Corn Exchange Bank in 1954, Texas Commerce Bank (a large bank in Texas) in 1986, and Manufacturer's Hanover Trust Company in 1991 (the first major bank merger "among equals"). At many points throughout this history, Chemical Bank was the largest bank in the United States (either in terms of assets or deposit market share).

In 1996, Chemical acquired the Chase Manhattan Corporation taking the more prominent Chase name. In 2000, the combined company acquired J.P. Morgan & Co. and combined the two names to form what is today JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPMorgan Chase retains Chemical Bank's headquarters at 277 Park Avenue and stock price history.

Chase Manhattan Bank

The Chase Manhattan Bank was formed upon the 1955 purchase of Chase National Bank (established in 1877) by the Bank of the Manhattan Company (established in 1799), the company's oldest predecessor institution. The Bank of the Manhattan Company was the creation of Aaron Burr, who transformed The Manhattan Company from a water carrier into a bank.

Led by David Rockefeller during the 1970s and the 1980s, Chase Manhattan emerged as one of the largest and most prestigious banking concerns, with leadership positions in syndicated lending, treasury and securities services, credit cards, mortgages, and retail financial services. Weakened by the real estate collapse in the early 1990s, it was acquired by Chemical Bank in 1996 but retained the Chase name. Prior to its merger with J.P. Morgan & Co., Chase acquired San Francisco-based Hambrecht & Quist in 1999 for $1.35 billion.

According to page 114 of An Empire of Wealth by John Steele Gordon, the origin of this strand of JPMorgan Chase's history runs as follows:

“At the turn of the nineteenth century, obtaining a bank charter required an act of the state legislature. This of course injected a powerful element of politics into the process and invited what today would be called corruption but then was regarded as business as usual. Hamilton's political enemy—and eventual murderer—Aaron Burr was able to create a bank by sneaking a clause into a charter for a company, called the Manhattan Company, to provide clean water to New York City. The innocuous-looking clause allowed the company to invest surplus capital in any lawful enterprise. Within six months of the company's creation, and long before it had laid a single section of water pipe, the company opened a bank, the Bank of the Manhattan Company. Still in existence, it is today J.P.Morgan Chase, the second largest bank in the United States.”

J.P. Morgan & Company

J.P. Morgan & Co. logo prior to its merger with Chase Manhattan Bank in 2000

The heritage of the House of Morgan traces its roots back to the partnership of Drexel, Morgan & Co. which in 1895, was renamed J.P. Morgan & Co. (see also: J. Pierpont Morgan). Arguably the most influential financial institutions of its era, J.P. Morgan & Co. financed the formation of the United States Steel Corporation, which took over the business of Andrew Carnegie and others and was the world's first billion-dollar corporation. In 1895, J.P. Morgan & Co. supplied the United States government with $62 million in gold to float a bond issue and restore the treasury surplus of $100 million. In 1892, the company began to finance the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad and led it through a series of acquisitions that made it the dominant railroad transporter in New England.

September 16, 1920: a bomb exploded in front of the headquarters of J.P. Morgan Inc. at 23 Wall Street, injuring 400 and killing 38 people.

Built in 1914, 23 Wall Street was known as the "House of Morgan," and for decades the bank's headquarters was the most important address in American finance. At noon, on September 16, 1920, a terrorist bomb exploded in front of the bank, injuring 400 and killing 38. Shortly before the bomb went off, a warning note was placed in a mailbox at the corner of Cedar Street and Broadway. The warning read: "Remember we will not tolerate any longer. Free the political prisoners or it will be sure death for all of you. American Anarchists Fighters." While theories abound about who was behind the Wall Street bombing and why they did it, after twenty years of investigation the FBI rendered the file inactive in 1940 without ever finding the perpetrators.

In August 1914, Henry P. Davison, a Morgan partner, traveled to the UK and made a deal with the Bank of England to make J.P. Morgan & Co. the monopoly underwriter of war bonds for UK and France. The Bank of England became a "fiscal agent" of J.P. Morgan & Co. and vice versa. The company also invested in the suppliers of war equipment to Britain and France. Thus, the company profited from the financing and purchasing activities of the two European governments.

In the 1930s, all J.P. Morgan & Co. along with all integrated banking businesses in the United States, was required by the provisions of the Glass-Steagall Act to separate its investment banking from its commercial banking operations. J.P. Morgan & Co. chose to operate as a commercial bank, because at the time commercial lending was perceived to be more profitable and prestigious business in the post depression era. Additionally, many within J.P. Morgan believed that a change in the climate would allow the company to resume its securities businesses but it would be nearly impossible to reconstitute the bank if it were disassembled.

In 1935, after being barred from securities business for over a year, the heads of J.P. Morgan made the decision to spinoff its investment banking operations. Led by J.P. Morgan partners, Henry S. Morgan (son of Jack Morgan and grandson of J. Pierpont Morgan) and Harold Stanley, Morgan Stanley was founded on September 16, 1935 with $6.6 million of nonvoting preferred stock from J.P. Morgan partners. In order to bolster its position, in 1959, J.P. Morgan merged with the Guaranty Trust Company of New York to form the Morgan Guaranty Trust Company. The bank would continue to operate as Morgan Guaranty through the 1980s before beginning to migrate back toward the use of the J.P. Morgan brand. In 1988, the company once again began operating exclusively as J.P. Morgan & Co.

Bank One Corporation

Bank One Corporation was formed upon the 1998 merger between Banc One of Ohio and First Chicago NBD. These two large banking companies had themselves been created through the merger of many banks. This merger was largely considered a failure until Jamie Dimon—recently ousted as President of Citigroup—took over and reformed the new firm's practices—especially its disastrous technology mishmash inherited from the many mergers prior to this one. Mr. Dimon effected more than sufficient changes to make Bank One Corporation a viable merger partner for JPMorgan Chase.

Bank One Corporation traced its roots to First Bancgroup of Ohio, founded as a holding company for City National Bank of Columbus, Ohio and several other banks in that state, all of which were renamed "Bank One" when the holding company was renamed Bank One Corporation. With the beginning of interstate banking they spread into other states, always renaming acquired banks "Bank One", though for a long time they resisted combining them into one bank. After the NBD merger, adverse financial results led to the departure of CIO John B. McCoy, whose father and grandfather had headed Banc One and predecessors. Jamie Dimon, a former key executive of Citigroup, was brought in to head the company. JPMorgan Chase completed the acquisition of Bank One in 2004.

Bear Stearns

At the end of 2007, Bear Stearns was the fifth largest investment bank in the United States but its market capitalization had deteriorated through the second half of 2007. On Friday, March 14, 2008 Bear Stearns & Co. Inc. lost 47% of its market value to close at $30.00 per share as rumors emerged that clients were withdrawing capital from the bank. Over the following weekend it emerged that Bear Stearns might prove insolvent and on or around March 15, 2008 the Federal Reserve engineered a deal to prevent a wider systemic crisis from the collapse of Bear Stearns.

On March 16, 2008, JPMorgan Chase announced that it had plans to acquire Bear Stearns & Co. Inc. in a stock swap worth $2.00 per share or $240 million pending mutual shareholder approval scheduled within 90 days. Until then, JPMorgan Chase has agreed to guarantee all Bear Stearns trades and business process flows.^[6] Two days later, on March 18, 2008, JPMorgan Chase announced the acquisition of Bear Stearns for $236 million. The stock swap agreement was completed in the late night hours of March 18, 2008, with JPMorgan exchanging 0.05473 of each of its shares for one Bear share, which were valued at $2 each. ^[7]

On March 24, 2008, a revised offer was announced at approximately $10 per share. Under the revised terms, JPMorgan immediately acquired a 39.5% stake in Bear Stearns (using newly issued shares) at the new offer price and gained a commitment from the board (representing another 10% of the share capital) that its members would vote in favour of the new deal. The merger was completed by June 2, 2008 and Bear Stearns is currently part of JPMorgan Chase.

Washington Mutual

On September 25, 2008, JPMorgan Chase announced the acquisition of Washington Mutual Bank, the largest savings and loan in the United States, from Washington Mutual, Inc. ^[8] Under the deal, JPMorgan Chase will assume assets, deposits, and branches for a $1.9 billion payment to the FDIC. JPMorgan Chase raised $10 billion in a stock sale to cover writedowns and losses after taking on deposits and branches of Washington Mutual.^[9] Due to the acquisition, JPMorgan Chase now owns the former accounts of Providian National Bank, a credit card issuer WaMu acquired in 2005. Washington Mutual branches will be rebranded with the Chase brand, sometime in late 2009.

Other recent acquisitions

In 2006, JPMorgan Chase purchased Collegiate Funding Services, LLC, and created Chase Education Finance.

On April 7, 2006, JPMorgan Chase announced it would be swapping its corporate trust unit for The Bank of New York Co.'s retail and small business banking network. The swap valued The Bank of New York business at $3.1 billion and JPMorgan's trust unit at $2.8 billion and gives Chase access to 338 additional branches and 700,000 new customers in the New York, New Jersey, and Indiana operations

On March 26, 2008, JPMorgan acquired the UK-based carbon offsetting company ClimateCare. ^[10]

Acquisition History

The following is an illustration of the company's major mergers and acquisitions and historical predecessors (this is not a comprehensive list):

(merged 2000) Chase Manhattan Bank (merged 1995) Chemical Bank (merged 1991) Chemical Bank The Chemical Bank of New York (est. 1823) Manufacturers Hanover (merged 1961) Manufacturers Trust Company (est. 1905) Hanover Bank (est. 1873) Chase Manhattan Bank (merged 1955) Bank of the Manhattan Company (est. 1799) Chase National Bank of the City of New York (est. 1877) J.P. Morgan & Co. (Formerly: Morgan Guaranty Trust) (merged 1959) Guaranty Trust Company of New York (est. 1866) J.P. Morgan & Co. ("The House of Morgan")[11] (est. 1895)[12] Bank One (acq. 2004) Banc One Corp. (merged 1968) City National Bank & Trust Company Farmers Saving & Trust Company First Chicago NBD (merged 1995) First Chicago Corp. (est. 1863) NBD Bancorp. (Formerly National Bank of Detroit) (est. 1933)   Louisiana’s First Commerce Corp. Bear Stearns (acq. 2008)[13]   Washington Mutual (acq. 2008)[14]

Banking subsidiaries

JPMorgan Chase & Co. owns five bank subsidiaries in the United States:^[15]

• Chase Bank USA, National Association
• JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association
• JPMorgan Chase Bank, Dearborn
• J.P. Morgan Trust Company, National Association
• Custodial Trust Company

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, with Card Services offices in Elgin, IL, Mumbai, India, San Antonio, TX, Springfield, MO, and Frederick, MD. There are also large operations centers in Brooklyn, NY, Rochester, NY, Columbus, OH, Dallas, TX, Fort Worth, TX, Indianapolis, IN, Tampa, FL, Orlando, FL, Louisville, KY, Newark, DE, Phoenix, AZ, Milwaukee, WI, Toronto, ON Canada,Burlington, Ontario Canada. Glasgow, London, Liverpool, Bournemouth and Swindon in the United Kingdom. There are also backoffice and technology operations offices based in Manila in the Philippines, and Mumbai and Bangalore, India.

The JPMorgan Investment Bank also maintained a number of high-profile offices around the globe, with the largest concentrations outside the US in London, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore. In August 2008, the bank announced plans to construct a new European headquarters, based at Canary Wharf, London.^[16]

The bulk of North American operations take place in four buildings located adjacent to 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 took place. Asset and wealth management groups are located at 245 Park Avenue and 345 Park Avenue. Other groups are located in the former Bear Stearns building at 383 Madison Avenue.

Controversy

Legal proceedings

WorldCom

J. P. Morgan Chase, which helped underwrite $15.4 billion of WorldCom's bonds, agreed in the middle of March 2005 to pay $2 billion; that was 46 percent, or $630 million, more than it would have paid had it accepted an investor offer in May of $1.37 billion. J. P. Morgan was the last big lender to settle. Its payment is the second largest in the case, exceeded only by the $2.6 billion accord reached in Q4 2004 by Citigroup ([1]).

In March 2005, 16 of WorldCom's 17 former underwriters reached settlements with the investors ([2]).

Enron

According to a University of California press release, allegations were filed in national court in an attempt to hold stock advisors responsible for poor investment decisions. The suits seek to recover the losses suffered by individual and company clients. Groups claiming JP Morgan Chase stock fraud resulted in loss of investments are the University of California and former Enron employees, among others.^[17]

Government subsidies and incentives

BBC News reported that JPMorgan Chase struck a deal to receive large incentives and subsidies from the City of New York and the State of New York to ensure that the company does not follow through on threats to leave downtown New York for Connecticut.^[18] While there are other companies that have received similar incentives to stay in New York's Downtown after 9/11, BBC News reports that this is the largest deal of its kind to date. A quote from the BBC article:

New York City officials have already paid Goldman Sachs $650m (£330m) to build new offices in Battery Park City. [...] But the paper says that JP Morgan Chase will receive an even better deal, with tax breaks, discounted electric power and rent subsidies worth $100m from city and state authorities. And it says that rent subsidies will amount to $50m per year for 15 years, or $750m. JP Morgan Chase is a huge, and very profitable company.

However, following the acquisition of Bear Stearns, JPMorgan Chase abandoned its relocation plans.

Major sponsorships

• Chase Field, Phoenix, Arizona, - Arizona Diamondbacks, MLB.
• Major League Soccer
• Chase Auditorium (formerly Bank One Auditorium) in Chicago is the home of the nationally syndicated NPR program, "Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!"
• The JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge, owned and operated by JPMorgan Chase, is the largest corporate road racing series in the world with over 200,000 participants in 12 cities in six countries on five continents. It has been held annually since 1977 and the races range in size from 4,000 entrants to more than 60,000.
• JPMorgan Chase is said to be finalizing a deal to be the principal sponsor for a New York Yacht Club backed America's Cup challenge.
• JPMorgan Chase is the official sponsor of the US Open.

Notable former employees

Business

• Andrew Crockett - Former General Manager of the Bank for International Settlements (1994-2003)
• Pierre Danon - Chairman of eircom
• Dina Dublon - Current member of the Board of Directors at Microsoft, Accenture and PepsiCo and former Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of JPMorgan Chase.
• Maria Elena Lagomasino - Current member of the Board of Directors at The Coca-Cola Company and former Chief Executive Officer of JPMorgan Private Bank.
• Thomas W. Lamont - acting head of J.P. Morgan & Co. on Black Tuesday
• Lewis Reford - Canadian political candidate
• Jan Stenbeck - former owner of Investment AB Kinnevik
• David Rockefeller - Current patriarch of the Rockefeller Family
• Winthrop Aldrich - Son of the late Sen. Nelson Aldrich
• Henry S. Morgan - Son of J. Pierpont Morgan, Co-founder of Morgan Stanley
• Harold Stanley - Former JPMorgan partner, Co-founder of Morgan Stanley

Politics and public service

• Tony Blair - Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007^[19]
• William M. Daley - U.S. Secretary of Commerce (1997-2000)
• Michael Forsyth, Baron Forsyth of Drumlean - Secretary of State for Scotland (1995-97)
• Thomas S. Gates, Jr. - U.S. Secretary of Defense (1959-61)
• Rick Lazio - Member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1993-2001)
• Antony Leung - Financial Secretary of Hong Kong (2001-03)
• Frederick Ma - Hong Kong Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development (2007-present)
• Dwight Morrow - U.S. Senator (1930-31)
• Margaret Ng - Member of the Hong Kong Legislative Council
• George P. Shultz - U.S. Secretary of Labor (1969-70), U.S. Secretary of Treasury (1972-74), U.S. Secretary of State (1982-89)

Others

• Douglas Cliggott - economist
• Henry P. Davison - philanthropist
• David Dodd - economist
• Samuel Gottesman - philanthropist
• Corliss Lamont - humanist
• Tarik O'Regan - composer

Notable awards

2008 Awards

• BusinessWeek

"Top 10 Best Places to Launch a Career"

• Risk

"Derivatives House of the Year 2008"

2007 Awards

• Risk

"Derivatives Research House of the Year"

• Profit & Loss

"Best Research Portal and Navigation in Digital FX Awards"

• Waters Magazine (Fifth Annual Waters Rankings, June 2007)

"Best Investor Services"

• ISIPS (Eighth Annual FSmetrics Award Dinner, May 2007)

"Best Custodian Corporate Action Services"

"Best Broker Confirmation Timelines"

• AsianInvestor (AsianInvestor 2007 Achievement Awards, May 2007)

"Best Global Custodian"

• ICFA (European Custody & Fund Administration Awards, 2007)

"European Custodian of the Year"

"Cash Management Provider of the Year"

"Technology Vendor of the Year"

"Custodian of the Year, Germany"

• The Asset (Annual Triple A Awards, 2007)

"Best Custody Specialist in Asia"

"Best Liquidity Solution Provider"

• Complinet (Third Annual Compliance Awards, February 2007)

"Most Cost Effective Compliance Technology Provider"

2006 Awards

• BusinessWeek

"Top 10 Best Places to Launch a Career"

• The Banker (November 2006)

"Securities Services Provider of the Year"

• Financial-i (Leaders In Innovation Awards, November 2006)

"Most Innovative Securities Outsourcing Solution"

• Funds Europe (November 2006)

"Custodian of the Year"

• Waters Magazine (Fourth Annual Waters Rankings, July 2006)

"Best Investor Services"

• ISF Magazine (Repo/Securities Lending Survey, June 2006)

"#1 Overall Cash Provider (In both weighted and unweighted categories)"

"#1 for Rates/Price Competitiveness"

"#1 in Ability to Deal in Size"

"#1 in Currency Flexibility"

"#1 in Reporting Capabilities"

"#1 in Margin Monitoring"

"#1 in Fails Handling"

• AsianInvestor Magazine (2006 Achievement Awards)

"Best Global Custodian"

• Profit and Loss Magazine (2006 P&L Digital Awards)

"Editor's Choice Award"

"Best Click & Deal Functionality"

• Global Investor (Annual Foreign Exchange Client Satisfaction Survey, March 2006)

"#1 Best FX Service Overall — Global Investor Top 100 Asset Manager Respondents"

"#1 European Respondents Best FX Service Overall"

"#1 Asian Respondents Best FX Service Overall"

"#1 Real Money — Best FX Service Overall"

"#1 Real Money — Most Improved Service Over Last 12 Months"

"#1 Best Research in Emerging Markets Currencies"

"#1 Best for Trading Emerging Markets Currencies"

"#1 Best Advice on Trading Strategies"

"#1 Best Daily Research"

"#1 Best Economic Research"

• Global Custodian (Tri-Party Securities Financing Survey, March 2006)

"Top Rated — Europe"

"Top Rated — North America"

"Top Rated — Overall"

• The Asset (Triple A Awards 2006)

"Best Custody Specialist"

See also

• Rockefeller family
• JPMorgan Chase Tower

Index products

• JPMorgan EMBI
• JPMorgan GBI-EM Index

References

External links

• JPMorgan Chase & Co. website
• California Attorney General's announcement of 2006 settlement with Chase regarding Trilegiant/Affinion marketing fraud, and Text of Settlement Judgement