JP Morgan's Coding Program Will Affect Private Bankers

Tom Burroughes

10 October 2018

JP Morgan is putting new finance and investment professionals through compulsory coding lessons as the industry gets more tech-driven – and this project also affects private bankers.

A flurry of media reports focused on how all 300 analysts joining JP Morgan’s asset management division this year have been made to go through coding training under a new pilot scheme. About a third of the analysts and associates at JP Morgan’s corporate and investment bank were also put through the program.

When this publication contacted the private banking arm of the US group to ask if the program affected it, a spokesperson said: “Yes, this absolutely applies to the private bank.”

The US bank has already flagged that wealth management is part of the coding project. “The firm is continuously evaluating training modules and expects to roll out additional coding training this year. Asset and wealth management has plans to roll out training in data science concepts focusing on machine learning and cloud computing to the first-year analysts next year,” it said in a recent statement.

Such moves take shape at a time when traditional financial organizations are being challenged by so-called “robo-advisors” and when technologies such as blockchain and artificial intelligence are increasingly part of industry conversation. In some ways the dividing lines between financial and technology firms are blurring, raising a need for employees to be more tech-savvy.

“Around the world, JP Morgan Chase has 50,000 technologists in roles ranging from programmers and analysts to systems engineers and application designers. In addition to hiring thousands of experienced technologists a year, the firm recently launched a Software Engineer Program to pave the way for attracting additional new talent. Through this specific program, JP Morgan Chase hires about 1,000 entry-level engineers each year,” the bank has said.

“Throughout the year, JP Morgan Chase hosts several code challenges with employees, the largest of which occurs each summer. This year, the firm had over 10,000 participants working on 1,300 projects” it continued.

“Coding isn’t just reserved for the technologists. In fact, JP Morgan Chase offers more than 7,000 different coding courses each year around the world. This year, the firm also established the JP Morgan Chase Coding Academy focusing on enhanced training in software engineering and infrastructure development,” it said.