JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon plans to travel to Africa in mid-October in a push by the biggest U.S. lender to expand on the continent, four sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, his first trip there in seven years.
Dimon is expected to visit Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Ivory Coast during the trip next month, two of the sources said. JPMorgan already has offices in South Africa and Nigeria where it offers asset and wealth management and well as commercial and investment banking services.
Overseas markets have been a key focus area to generate growth for JPMorgan — which has assets of over $4.1 trillion and operations in more than 100 countries.
In 2018, Dimon said the lender would look at entering Ghana and Kenya. Local regulators in those two countries had blocked JPMorgan’s growth plans, according to media reports.
Kenyan President William Ruto said in February 2023 after a meeting with a senior JPMorgan executive that the bank had committed to opening a new office in Nairobi.
It was not immediately clear how close JPMorgan is to opening in these countries.
Major global banks are seeking to gain a bigger share of sovereign debt and corporate transactions in Africa, analysts said, while also aiming to serve more international companies that have operations on the continent, said Eric Musau, head of research at Nairobi-based Standard Investment Bank.
International lenders are seeking to grow their revenues by offering wealth management services that provide access to investments like offshore equity, debt and mutual funds, Musau added.
Banking giants are also offering private banking services, seeking to differentiate themselves from local and regional lenders that are prevalent in retail markets.
While most consumers on the continent have access to financial services through local and regional commercial banks, private banking “is where the next evolution will be,” said Francis Mwangi, CEO of Kestrel Capital, a Nairobi brokerage.
Reuters
