ZURICH (Reuters) – JPMorgan Chase is looking to expand its investment banking business in Switzerland and hopes to use blockchain services to win clients, a senior executive at the U.S. bank said.
“We are ambitious and want to gain market share,” Lutz Karl, who heads the bank’s business with large corporate clients in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, told Reuters.
JPMorgan, one of the largest foreign banks in Switzerland alongside rivals Deutsche Bank, Citigroup, HSBC and BNP Paribas, has given itself three to five years to expand its position, he said.
The demise of Credit Suisse, which after its collapse last year was bought by longtime rival UBS, has opened the door to competitors in some areas, Karl said.
“Many companies reacted relatively early. When the first warning signals were heard, they started moving their liquidity to other banks. We felt that at the time,” he said.
“But I wouldn’t say it’s a big bang.”
With just over 10 people on site, JPMorgan serves around 60 large companies in Switzerland, including the 20 companies in the SMI Blue Chip Index, by offering treasury management, risk management and bond financing services as part of its investment banking activities.
Among small and medium-sized businesses, the bank has more than two dozen active client relationships and will continue to grow significantly in this segment, Karl said.
Blockchain technology offers growth opportunities in cash management through payment transactions, he added.
In Germany, companies like Siemens are already using JPMorgan’s blockchain services to move money around the world in real time, the official noted.
“We are also holding numerous discussions on the topic in Switzerland and hope to attract the first customers to the platform in the coming months,” said Karl, who is also targeting market share gains in the trade finance sector.
(Reporting by Oliver Hirt; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)
