JPMorgan Chase‘s technology spending is expected to level out moving forward as the bank modernizes and more processes are digitalized, CFO Marianne Lake said during the bank’s first quarter earnings call today.
The bank is currently spending about $11.5 billion on technology annually and employs about 50,000 IT workers. Lake said each dollar of spending for technology will become “more productive” as a result of efficiencies from previous IT investments, specifically on the innovation side. She said while innovation has claimed 60% of the bank’s overall technology spend recently, it will now modulate to 50%.
JPMorgan has put a lot of money toward platform modernization, cloud, security, customer experience, and R&D, among other areas, she said. The bank will continue to invest “heavily” in innovation, perhaps looking closer at the merits of each item.
The bank’s technology, communications and equipment non-interest expenses totaled $2.4 billion in 1Q19, about level with spending the previous quarter, but up 15% over the $2 billion spent in 1Q18.
Asked where and how the bank is growing consumer deposits, Lake said the bank has seen an increase in deposits from the branches, as well as through digital channels. She said JPMorgan built a large number of branches soon after the 2008 financial crisis in markets like California and Florida, and that a “decent portion” of its branches are still maturing. She also referenced the bank’s investments in improving customer experience over the past decade, saying satisfaction in JPMorgan’s consumer bank is at an all-time high.
While she wouldn’t provide a break down of how much deposit growth is due to digital banking versus branch banking, Lake said there’s a reason the bank believes in digital and physical approaches, together, rather than preferring one over the other. She later said digital account opening capabilities are attracting new accounts and that digital will increasingly be a driver.
CEO Jamie Dimon’s annual letter to shareholders, published last week, touted simplifications to the onboarding experience for new customers.
Also see: What Dimon’s Shareholder Letter Reveals About JPMorgan’s AI Approach
“Customers can open a new deposit account digitally in three to five minutes, functionality that added approximately 1.5 million new accounts since its February 2018 launch; we’re expanding this functionality inside our branches as well,” he wrote.
JPMorgan has a market cap of $344.9 billion. Its stock was up more than 5% as of noon EST.





