JPMorgan Chase & Co. has formally urged its investment bankers to step up efforts to capture more mergers and acquisitions business following a year in which its M&A franchise trailed rivals, management told employees in an internal gathering in January.
According to internal discussion points shared at the meeting, John Simmons and Filippo Gori - the co-heads of global banking at JPMorgan - communicated that the bank's M&A unit underperformed in 2025 and that staff needed to raise their activity and results to recover lost ground. Anu Aiyengar, who leads global advisory and M&A at JPMorgan, also addressed employees during the same regular meeting.
The instruction is framed as an effort to strengthen the bank's position in the competitive investment banking arena, with particular emphasis on the mergers and acquisitions segment where the bank has lost market share to peers. The executives conveyed a clear expectation that teams should increase focus and intensity in pursuing M&A mandates.
The meeting took place in January and was a routine forum for senior leadership to brief staff on performance and priorities. Management highlighted the 2025 underperformance of the M&A division as the primary motivator for the recent directive.
While the message centered on elevating effort and execution to win back business, the internal communication did not set out a detailed timeline or specify particular client targets in the public summary of the meeting. The emphasis instead remained on the need to improve performance and regain market share within the mergers and acquisitions marketplace.
Summary
JPMorgan's global banking co-heads told staff in January that the firm's M&A operations underperformed in 2025 and instructed investment bankers to intensify efforts to win more deals. The bank's global head of advisory and M&A also spoke at the same meeting.
Context and implications
The directive is aimed squarely at bolstering JPMorgan's competitive stance in investment banking, with a focus on the mergers and acquisitions business where management says the bank lost ground during 2025. The move reflects senior leadership prioritizing regained market share in the M&A segment.