JPMorgan to keep Asia hiring pace after corporate bank growth tops 20%

SINGAPORE, Aug 11 (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase will continue hiring in Asia Pacific at a similar pace in 2027, after revenue at its corporate bank in the region grew by well above 20% this year, its regional heads told Reuters.

The U.S. bank is close to completing a roughly 15% increase in Asia Pacific corporate banking staff this year, after expanding the team by 20% in 2025, Oliver Brinkmann and Kerwin Clayton said in an interview at JPMorgan's Singapore office.

The hiring will cover teams serving mid-sized and large companies, the innovation economy, financial institutions and non-bank financial institutions, according to the executives.

"We intend to continue to hire at a similar pace in 2027," Clayton said. "It's across all of our businesses. It differs throughout the region, but it's in a lot of countries."

JPMorgan's corporate banking business in Asia Pacific has grown well above 20% year-to-date, helped by Asian companies expanding abroad and rising investment in artificial intelligence, data centres and supply chains.

"This year it is even stronger," Brinkmann said. "It's well above 20% across APAC and across all sectors."

Markets including Taiwan, South Korea, China and Australia have exceeded those growth rates, the executives said.

Southeast Asia is growing by more than 20%, with Malaysia benefiting from foreign investment linked to AI and data centres and Singapore acting as a regional connector and hub, Brinkmann said.

"We see a lot of inquiries for data centre or GPU financing," he said. "It's really quite active. The market is very active." GPUs, or graphics processing units, are chips widely used to run AI systems.

JPMorgan is also putting more capital into trade finance and working capital finance, which helps companies pay for goods moving across borders, as trade within Asia increases and as the bank builds its trade finance business.