JPMorgan forms special advisory group to share some of bank’s ‘secret sauce’ with clients

The traditional role of an investment banker is to provide advice on deals and financings. But JPMorgan’s bankers recently began noticing that clients were asking for more from the firm – like how the nation’s largest bank was navigating artificial intelligence or what cybersecurity practices it used. 

Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon had an idea: formalize a group that can give certain clients access to much of JPMorgan’s “secret sauce.” They’re calling the initiative the “Special Advisory Services,” which launches Monday, with Liz Myers, who also serves as the global chair of investment banking, at the helm. 

“These capabilities are on par or better with some of the specialized consulting firms out there,” said Myers in an interview with CNBC. “We think it could help C-suite executives be more effective in their roles and learn from our best practices.” 

JPMorgan identified several dozen adjacent capabilities to offer clients, ranging from investor relations to real estate selection to health-care benefits to technology procurement. At the outset, the firm does not plan to charge for these services. However, if a client seeks a more time-consuming project or a service that exists on an ongoing basis, they may negotiate some sort of fee structure. 

The services are intended for clients that “have, or seek to have, deep and long-term relationships with the firm,” the company said in a press release. That cohort may include, “companies considering JPMorgan as their lead IPO adviser, long-tenured clients preparing for transformational deals, or growing mid-sized clients looking to use JPMorgan as their primary operating bank,” according to the release. 

“More than two-thirds of our experts are internally facing people – their No. 1 job is to make sure they’re delivering for our firm,” Myers said. “They’re a precious resource, to some extent, so we have to be thoughtful about who gets it.” 

Myers, a 30-year veteran of the firm, had previously served as global head of equity capital markets, and in her expanded role, she’ll work with advisory teams and experts across JPMorgan. She said that in the beginning, the Special Advisory Services group will have a “handful” of people. And then over time, the firm may scale it if there’s a sizable uptake in client demand. 

JPMorgan is scheduled to report fourth-quarter and full-year earnings next week. LSEG estimates that for the year through Dec. 11, JPMorgan raked in $9.44 billion in investment banking fees, making the firm No. 1 worldwide, with 7.4% of wallet share.