Jamie Dimon said JPMorgan Chase & Co. will be in China in both good and bad times, remaining committed to doing business in the Communist Party-ruled nation as political tensions grow.
Echoing comments made by US officials, the chief executive officer of the largest US bank said on Wednesday that he doesn’t foresee a decoupling between the West and China, while acknowledging that the situation is “far more complex now.”
“Over time there’ll be less trade,” Dimon said in a Bloomberg Television interview at the bank’s annual Global China Summit in Shanghai. “It’ll take years for this thing to take place, but it won’t be a decoupling and the world will go on.”
Dimon’s remarks, made during his first trip to the mainland since 2019, come as China-US relations are at their worst in decades. A sluggish Chinese economy, restrictions in the US and a crackdown by Beijing on foreign businesses are forcing global banks to have a fundamental rethink about their ambitions in the country, with revised profit goals and job cuts.
Officials in Shanghai also rolled out the red carpet. Dimon met with Shanghai party chief Chen Jining, the municipal government said in a statement. Chen, who also sits on the Chinese Communist Party’s Politburo, said he hopes JPMorgan could help bring more international financial institutions to Shanghai and provide insight to the city’s development.
Dimon said he wouldn’t comment on his discussions with Chinese officials.
JPMorgan is hosting more than 2,500 guests from 37 countries at its two-day summit.
The world’s second-largest economy is still a potent lure. Global investors are seeking fresh information to recalibrate their approach after three years of strict Covid restrictions and as President Xi Jinping began his unprecedented third term. Top executives from financial firms such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc and HSBC Holdings Plc have also visited in recent months and met with Chinese officials to boost ties with Beijing.
Beijing has over the years launched sweeping crackdowns on private sectors from technology to education, and enacted laws including the Data Security Law to make sure businesses toe the line. Its recent actions — with office raids on consulting firms and detention of a Japanese pharmaceutical employee — have also spooked foreign executives.
--With assistance from Adrian Wong and Cathy Chan.