JP Morgan, the largest bank in the United States and the world’s sixth-largest bank by total assets, has announced the opening of a regional office in Nairobi, Kenya. Kenya’s President William Ruto has hailed the move as a “vote for Kenya’s emerging success in the global marketplace.”
JP Morgan decided to set up a regional office in Nairobi after the bank’s CEO, Jamie Dimon, announced in 2018 that the bank had hired a special team of bankers to help coordinate and expand the bank’s relationships in Kenya and Ghana. Despite facing regulatory issues in the two countries in 2015, Dimon had expressed the bank’s interest in expanding its services and targeting large multinationals that are not well-served by local investment banking firms due to a lack of expertise to handle large transactions.
The new regional office in Nairobi will serve as a hub for JP Morgan’s operations in East Africa, and the bank has stated its intention to serve the country, all US multinationals going in, the wealth funds, and universities. The move is part of JP Morgan’s strategy to expand its services globally, and the bank already has offices in South Africa and Nigeria.
During his meeting with Daniel Zelikow, the vice-chairman and global head of JP Morgan Public Sector Group, President Ruto discussed the revision of development financing to be more responsive to climate change. The bank has also expressed its commitment to serving the needs of its clients while helping to drive sustainable economic growth in the region.
JP Morgan’s move into Kenya is seen as a significant boost to the country’s economy and its efforts to position itself as a hub for finance and investment in East Africa. The bank’s decision to open a regional office in Nairobi is expected to create job opportunities and attract more foreign investment to the country.
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