JPMorgan hired 900 people as investment banking revenues soared

It’s a good time to be working in JPMorgan’s investment bank; its Q2 earnings report revealed that the division brought in $2.4bn in fees this quarter. 

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Revenues in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) at JPMorgan were up 34% year-on-year in Q2. Revenues in equity and debt capital markets (ECM & DCM) each rose by more than 50% year-on-year too. The bank’s fixed income revenue performance was less impressive, with revenues only up 5%. Securitized products seemingly saved its bacon, according to the bank’s accompanying results presentation.

Q2 has historically been a big period for hiring, and JPMorgan has certainly been doing so. In its newly combined ‘Commercial & Investment Bank’, headcount rose by 900 quarter-on-quarter. It’s not clear how many of these joined the investment bank specifically.

The rise is somewhat surprising given that, at JPMorgan’s investor day in May, the bank said it would halve its planned $200m investment in the IBs ‘revenue producers’. 

The bank has had far better and far worse years for hiring. In 2021, when the investment bank was grouped with the corporate bank instead of the commercial bank, headcount of that combined segment rose by 1,539 from Q1 to Q2. In 2018, however, headcount in that same division rose only 108. The recent 900-person increase isn’t directly comparable, but doesn’t look bad. 

JPMorgan’s investment bankers might be hoping, however, that most of those hires are joining the commercial bank. With revenues soaring, ‘revenue-related pay‘ is set to soar with them. The fewer people working in the division, the less people to share the riches with when bonuses are paid. 

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