By Yantoultra Ngui and Rae Wee
SINGAPORE (Reuters) -JPMorgan Chase is accelerating hiring across its corporate banking business in the Asia Pacific region and aims to increase headcount by 20% next year as part of a regional growth push, senior executives told Reuters.
JPMorgan, the largest U.S. bank, has already bumped up its staffing levels in the division by 20% as of July, double its initial target for 2025 growth, said Oliver Brinkmann, co-head of global corporate banking, Asia Pacific (APAC).
“We’re planning for something similar next year,” Brinkmann said in Wednesday’s interview on the sidelines of JPMorgan’s APAC CFO and Treasurers Forum in Singapore, adding that the extra hirings would be spread across the region.
The bank said it was unable to provide a breakdown on the individual number of bankers it would hire.
The hiring spree underscores JPMorgan’s push to expand its footprint in Asia Pacific, where it sees long-term growth driven by digital innovation, rising intra-Asia trade and demand from corporates in the region to go global.
“It has come at a challenging time for some within the industry, and we think that is a great opportunity for us to expand,” he said of the bank’s plans.
“When those things happen, you know competition is going to come back strongly, so you need to take that opportunity … We think that’s the case for the next three to four years, and hence we’re going to accelerate our hiring.”
Brinkmann also pushed back on pessimism about China’s growth outlook.
China’s economy has been hampered by a prolonged slump in its property sector and weak domestic demand, with trade disruptions owing to U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs adding to headwinds for the export-reliant economy.
“The naysayers say China’s going to slow down and it’s going to be difficult. We don’t see that. Our China business is growing 25% year-on-year.”
Kerwin Clayton, Brinkmann’s co-head, said the pace at which Asian companies are going global is feeding demand for the bank’s services.
“From an Asia-Pacific standpoint … there is growth everywhere,” he said.
(Reporting by Yantoultra Ngui and Rae Wee; Editing by Scott Murdoch and Helen Popper)
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