JPMorgan finds lead in tech talent tango

Singapore

ABOUT 40 per cent of the senior technology specialists hired by JPMorgan each year have come from technology companies, said a top executive from the bank.

This trend may surprise, given the rising fear that technology companies are draining talent from banking circles. But to Lori Beer, global chief information officer of JPMorgan, the trend reflects the tide of technology staff who want to solve complex problems in banking, a sector that has the data and the scale to bring large projects to fruition. This contrasts with a more product focus at technology companies, she said in an interview with The Business Times.

The bank is also putting significant investment dollar on the table that can rival Big Tech firms, with its global technology spending hitting some US$10.8 billion this year, and as it has hired tens of thousands of tech specialists. Of the nearly 50,000 people in technology at the company, more than 31,000 are in development and engineering jobs, and more than 2,500 are in digital technology.

With the heavy focus on technology at the bank, there has been greater "digital fluency" within the business segments, she added, as banking units seek out staff such as data scientists to figure out how data can solve specific banking problems.

Ms Beer noted that technology is helping the bank transform the way it interacts with customers, bringing about greater personalisation. Indeed, with the greater use of machine learning, banks such as JPMorgan have been using computer programs that help bankers sieve out the clients that are most likely to take up additional fundraising.

JPMorgan is more actively engaging financial technology companies as well, with Ms Beer pointing to the bank's in-residence programme that has fintech companies sit with the business teams in the bank to develop new solutions. These fintech residents join the bank for six months, and have access to the bank's facilities and systems.

The programme also puts the fintech firms in touch with the regulatory environment of banks, including ensuring that the fintech solutions pass cybersecurity standards. Of the US$10.8 billion spent on technology by JPMorgan, about US$700 million goes to cybersecurity.

"We have about 100 fintech emerging tech pilots at any given time that we're executing, or partnering on," said Ms Beer. "Operating under intensive regulation adds a whole new complexity. We're used to working with that environment - we're very good at managing risks and controls."

Singapore plays a part in JPMorgan's global technology drive.

In Singapore, the number of technology staff at JPMorgan - or technologists, as they are known at the bank - has grown almost 40 per cent since 2013, with Singapore having gone through a "growth cycle" last year in terms of tech hiring, said Ms Beer.

The current tech headcount in Singapore is about 1,200 staff, with the team in Singapore forming a key part of developing the bank's cloud strategy and helping drive adoption globally. The Singapore team has worked on applications used by traders in the service called Symphony - a chat tool backed by top Wall Street banks including JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs that is meant to compete with that from Bloomberg.

Singapore also remains one of the 14 strategic hubs globally for the bank, with some round-the-clock functions anchored in Singapore. Global banks offer "follow-the-sun" support to large clients that have multiple operations in different timezones, as they require services such as 24-hour cashflow management.

There remain broader challenges about technology ahead, with questions still remaining over how machines are being used to process data that may have bias in them, and the impact of that on society.

Meanwhile, while much has been said about the long-term value of blockchain, it remains "an evolving landscape", as Ms Beer noted.

Still, some costs are on corporates' side in the area of innovation. Ms Beer noted that the falling cost of computing has helped to spur greater adoption of innovation such as machine learning among corporates today.

"AI existed before I was born," she quipped. "It's just coming of age."