JPMorgan's digital bank pays less than Revolut, & probably wants you in the office
If you're interested in working at a UK-based challenger bank, you could do worse than JPMorgan's local subsidiary, Chase UK. The problem is, you might also do much, much better.
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Accounts for J.P. Morgan Europe Limited, the firm’s retail banking subsidiary in the UK, were released last week. They paint a rosy picture: profits at the entity rose 430% in 2024, interest income was up 37%, and assets were up 35%. But if you work there, there might be an issue.
JPMorgan pays its people well. Its investment banking subsidiary in London, JPMorgan Securities, also pays its people well ($430k per head, on average, in 2024). But JPMorgan Europe, which hosts its Revolut-challenging digital bank Chase UK, does not pay nearly as well.
The firm paid its 814 Chase UK people an average of £53k ($72k) in 2024. That was slightly up on 2023, when it paid its 802 people an average of £49k ($66k).
However, it’s still well below what Revolut pays: in 2024, it paid 4,918 people an average of £69k ($94k) each. In 2023, Revolut paid 4,534 people an average of £57k ($78k) each.
Aside from the discrepancy in compensation, Revolut’s people seem to enjoy life much more than JPMorgan’s. Earlier this year, after JPM CEO Jamie Dimon’s five-days-a-week office mandate, Revolut staff posted pictures of themselves frolicking on horseback on Moroccan beaches. Revolut allows its staff to enjoy lavish working holidays; its current policy is to allow up to 120 days a year for staff to work abroad.
Following Dimon's tirade, Nik Storonsky, Revolut CEO sent a memo around his company committing to hybrid as a work model and said that the firm cares “more about what you do than where you do it.” JPMorgan staff have left for Revolut; whether it was because of the more competitive pay or the more holiday-friendly work policies is unclear.
JPMorgan is serious about its UK ambitions. It acquired digibank Nutmeg back in 2021 for $700m as part of its ambitions in the country, but it struggled to fully integrate it into its operations due to a conflict of interest with fellow stakeholder Goldman Sachs, as well as a number of high-profile departures at the firm, according to Financial News in 2023.
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