India core to our products and services: JPMorgan Chase CIO Lori Beer

Even in terms of its technology investment, the US recessionary trend has not impacted it, she said. Its tech budgets over the period have only been increasing, Beer added

For Lori Beer, chief information officer (CIO), JPMorgan Chase & Co, largest bank in the US, India is a big part of the organisation’s global technology footprint and is core to its products and services.

This is evident from the fact that in less than two months since JPMorgan & Chase Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon visited India, Beer has come here to see the recently opened centres in Mumbai and Bengaluru.

“What is different for me this year are our new centres and to be able to come and see the vibrancy, and connectedness is great. We have a global tech vision that supports our businesses. And India is a huge part of our global tech footprint,” Beer told Business Standard at its newly opened centre in Mumbai. Beer, considered one of the most powerful woman in the banking world, manages a budget of $15 billion and more than 57,000 technologists across the various businesses of the company. India houses one-third of the firm’s technology workforce out of its centres in Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad. Beer said technologists in India created cutting-edge solutions -- cloud computing, integrating artificial intelligence, or improving digital banking —that were used by the ban

“The one thing that is special about India (tech centres) is that 80 per cent of our technology workforce are engineers, which is the highest percentage in all of the tech centres across the globe. We have started to see our colleagues taking global roles for some of our core products,” she said when asked how significant the India team’s contribution to its technology was. One such example is its commercial banking product called “Story”, which was innovated and created in India.

“We also have many of the core platforms in the infrastructure space being built from here,” she added. When asked if the US recession or the current Israel-Hamas conflict affected the company, Beer said it had a technology centre in Israel. “From an employee perspective it impacts us. But it has not impacted our investment. We always think long-term. We even invested during the financial crisis,” she added.

Even in terms of its technology investment, the US recessionary trend has not impacted it, she said. Its tech budgets over the period have only been increasing, she added.

“The $15 billion number has grown over the years ... The growth has been commensurate with our business as our core business has been growing. Our tech spending as a percentage of revenue has remained relatively stable at 10 per cent,” said Beer. On generative AI, she said while it had some value, there was a lot of hype attached to it and a lot of things needed to be tested.

“We have been a firm believer in artificial intelligence (AI). Three years back we started to think about how to accelerate AI use and increase its capability. So as GenAI came to the fore last year, we have been working on our GenAI model,” said Beer.

“Since we started using AI we have 300 use cases in production, and in value terms they represent $1 billion. We were hoping to reach this number by the end of this year, but we will probably touch $1.5 billion,” she said on how even traditional AI could bring value to business. JPMorgan Chase recently held its first innovation forum for fintechs in India. This year around 30 startups were invited by the bank to be part of the fintech forum. A handful have been selected and proof of concept will be conducted with them.

High Stakes

• JPMorgan Chase & Co CIO Lori Beer said while GenerativeAI had some value, there was a lot of hype attached to it and a lot of things needed to be tested
   
• Beer, considered the most powerful woman in the banking world, manages a budget of $15 billion and more than 57,000 technologists across the various businesses of the company
   
• She said engineers formed 80% of their technology workforce in India tech centres — the highest percentage in all tech centres across the globe