If the world’s big banks are riding for a fall, you wouldn’t know it to look at the biggest of them all. JPMorgan’s share price hit an all-time high of nearly $119 late last week, cementing its dominance of the world ranking by market capitalisation.
In Jamie Dimon, the larger-than-life bank has a larger-than-life boss — and has had for the past 14 years. The financial crisis was supposed to have killed off all the “masters of the universe”, the uber-bankers who generated business by the billions of dollars in the run-up to 2008, and made tens of millions of dollars for themselves in the process.
Mr Dimon may be the last true example of the species. In the face of a trade war with China, declining interest rates, mounting fears of recession and widespread concerns about asset bubbles, JP is still thriving.