The largest of the “Big Four” banks in the U.S., JPMorgan Chase is at the center of the American financial system through its core offerings of consumer and community banking, commercial and investment banking, and asset and wealth management. The towering institution has its roots in different companies, including financial tycoon J.P. Morgan’s firm, and Chase Manhattan, with which it merged in 2000. Jamie Dimon has served as CEO since late 2005, shepherding the bank through the Global Financial Crisis. The question of who will succeed him has become one of the most closely watched stories in the business world, though Dimon has downplayed any intention of stepping down in the near term.
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Change the World 2023
In the summer of 2013, Detroit hit economic rock-bottom. With the city’s population down more than 60% from its 1950s peak, and the auto industry still reeling from the Great Recession, the city declared bankruptcy; its unemployment rate at one point topped 25%. To help the city bounce back, JPMorgan Chase teamed up with local government, other employers, and nonprofits on Invested in Detroit, a program through which the company has poured over $200 million into Detroit’s economy in the form of job training, loans for small businesses, and real estate financing. The bank’s biggest innovations involved extending credit to entrepreneurs and property buyers who lacked the collateral or credit histories to qualify for traditional loans—a major problem in underserved and lower-income communities. To date, Invested in Detroit has helped place some 72,000 Detroiters into apprenticeships or jobs, while providing financing or technical aid to 13,000 small businesses. Detroit’s jobless rate is now just 6.4%. JPMorgan Chase, meanwhile, has benefited from a healthier economy: Since 2017, its numbers of consumer and business accounts, market share, and commercial lending in the metro area have all grown by double-digit percentages. And the bank has taken some of its innovations national: Its Entrepreneurs of Color Fund, first launched in Detroit, has made more than 2,100 loans, worth over $115 million, to entrepreneurs nationwide.
