Jamie Dimon foresees a future powered by artificial intelligence and preparing for that revolution has become a major priority at JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM).
"We always do reskilling," JPMorgan Chase's CEO told reporters in Seattle on Monday. "We have lots of classes and lots of training you can put your hand up for. ... People like doing different things in life."
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JPMorgan Chase is the largest bank in the U.S. with $4.1 trillion in assets and more than 250,000 employees. According to Business Journal research, the bank has the second-largest market share in the state of Washington with 15.06%, trailing Bank of America's 21.02%
During his recent Seattle visit, Dimon opened up on cloud computing, initial public offerings, Microsoft and Amazon.
On what he did during his trip to Seattle:
We had a whole bunch of people from JPMorgan Chase, tech people. We spent a couple of hours with Amazon. We spent a couple of hours with Microsoft learning about the new tools, techniques, infrastructure, chips and cloud services they're building. We try to do that periodically to stay completely up to date.
On moving to the cloud:
We're well along the way, but it's a lot of work. I don't know of any company, and I've spoken to hundreds of them, that doesn't say it's a lot of work. It's a slog. Every application and every database has to be refactored and replatformed.
On serving younger generations:
I think the industry does quite a good job of serving younger generations. We have branches outside tons of universities. We're doing great with Gen Z in terms of credit cards and checking accounts. I think some banks are better than others.
On returning workers to the office:
Sixty percent of our people are 100% in the office. Think of trading floors, investment bankers, people in the branches. Ten percent were always at home. There's certain sales functions and service functions. About 30% are hybrid, which means three days a week. ... I think it has negatives. It's not good for the younger generation. We know that now. ... And I don't think it works for management.
On IPOs:
Bankers always talk about the pipeline. I tell people the pipeline is like an accordion. It kind of opens and closes sometimes. ... There's a lot of IPO talk and chatter. There's been some IPOs done. It's up considerably, but it's up from a very bad low. And it's not much venture-type investment. It's companies earning money. They're not a guess on some future thing.
On Amazon and Microsoft:
We've always had great relationships with both — at every level, with the CEOs. Jeff Bezos I've known for years. When you're a big company you tend to collaborate and compete sometimes, and we have no problem with that.
On AI and the workforce:
If you take a look at history, technology is a thing that has changed the world generally for the better. ... My guess is in 40 years, we will be working three and a half days a week. Average incomes will be higher. People are going to live longer. It's going to cure cancer. So don't be afraid of it.
These quotes have been edited for length and clarity.
