Banking giant JPMorgan Chase held its first-quarter earnings call Wednesday, with bank executives outlining plans for continued blockchain and payment investments.

The $3.95 trillion bank’s wholesale payments business will continue to invest in blockchain and digital payments that are critical for its growth, Jamie Dimon, chairman and chief executive, said during the call.

“We’re building all the things we need,” Dimon told analysts. “Real-time payments, blockchain-type things, wallets are building out our wholesale capabilities to do a far better job for clients around the world. And it’s supported by very good cyber risk controls.

“It’s an area we want to win,” he added.

Plans to increase tech spend by $2.4 billion in 2022 made headlines earlier in the year, but Q1 numbers were more conservative, with a technology, communications and equipment spend of $2.36 billion, down 4% from the previous quarter and down 6% year over year, according to the presentation.

While the earnings call did not directly address technology, Dimon’s annual letter to shareholders, published last week, shed light on the financial institution’s 2021 tech spend, which ranged from cloud data centers and artificial intelligence-based cybersecurity tools to application programming interface (API) developments that “automate” banking systems. The letter also highlighted the bank’s digital currency push through Onyx and JPM Coin, which enables real-time clearance of “multi-currency” assets on a distributed ledger.

Technology is an essential feature of the bank’s core business, Dimon said.

“Technology always drives change, but now the waves of technological innovation come in faster and faster,” Dimon said in the letter. “The science behind them is also increasingly complex as technology (including AI) is “embedded” in more products. In today’s world, I cannot overemphasize the importance of implementing new technology.”

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