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Tag: JPMorgan Chase

  • Why your 401(k) is safe from a 40% crash in stocks—but not a 10%-15% correction, top analyst says | Fortune

    The recent euphoria surrounding the artificial intelligence mega-boom has led to massive concentration in the U.S. stock market, prompting fears of a catastrophic crash similar to the 2001 dot-com bust or the 2008 financial crisis. Many of these views have been aired recently on Scott Galloway and Ed Elson’s financial podcast, Prof G Markets, including a bearish stance from longtime bull NYU Stern Finance Professor Aswath Damadoran, who said the market was failing to price in a “potentially catastrophic” scenario.

    However, one of Wall Street’s most experienced strategists has suggested that while a major selloff is inevitable, the risk to diversified retirement accounts is far more contained. Michael Cembalest, chairman of market and investment strategy for JPMorgan Asset and Wealth Management, explained his measured view to Galloway and Elson, acknowledging the current market’s extraordinary valuations while expressing skepticism about a catastrophic 40% drop.

    Cembalest referred to the financial figure known as “Dr. Doom” to summon up a picture of stock-market bears issuing warnings when the market begins to correct: “As soon as any asset falls by 10%, Nouriel Roubini and the rest of the [bearish] people come out of the woodwork and say, ‘Okay, this is it, this is the big one. Everything’s going to go down from here.’” 

    Fortune has covered similar warnings amid questions about an AI bubble, including those from self-described “perma-bear” Albert Edwards and the mega-popular Irish financial podcaster David McWilliams. But a correction doesn’t necessarily always pan out in a big crash, Cembalest pointed out.

    He also weighed in on the bearish stance of Damadoran, who warned that everything was overvalued and that if the Magnificent 10 went down by 40%, the panic would ripple through the entire market. Damadoran even went so far as to suggest that investors should move large portions of their portfolios into cash or collectibles. With no disrespect intended, Cembalest said there’s a difference between what a finance professor sees and what actual market participants see.

    “You know, professors are basically running fantasy baseball teams by coming out intermittently and telling you what their trades are. It’s not real money. It’s not real life,” he quipped.

    While the JPMorgan analyst agreed that the market relies heavily on extraordinary expectations, Cembalest argued that the current AI buildout lacks the systemic risk present in previous bubbles.

    Why a 40% Crash is Unlikely

    In his view, the crucial difference lies in financing: previous capital spending booms, such as in fiber-optics or gas turbines, were primarily financed with debt, making them vulnerable to a sudden, systemic “unplug” by the debt markets. Today, the massive capital spending fueling the AI revolution is largely being financed with internally generated cash flow, not debt, with the notable exception of Oracle, he said.

    “That simply means it can go on for longer before it gets unplugged by the debt markets,” Cembalest noted, explaining that this dynamic “doesn’t relieve you of the ultimate need for there to be substantial profit generation” but it does mitigate the risk of a sudden seizure in the financial system. This reduced systemic debt exposure suggests that the market will not “unravel into the big 40% corrections that we had in 2009” and then again in 2001, he added.

    Instead of a 40% collapse, Cembalest’s base case for the next few years includes a likely and more modest correction. He stated that when assets are trading at 20- to 25-year highs, they usually correct, but by smaller percentages. “It would be kind of shocking if you didn’t have some kind of profit-taking correction in 2026 at some point on the order of 10% to 15%.”

    What it Means for the Average Investor

    For the average investor or 401(k) participant, Cembalest said that the scale of the drawdown will require preparation but not panic. He noted that his firm’s normal balanced and conservative portfolios are already highly defensive, holding 30% to 40% in a combination of cash, cash equivalents, gold, diversified hedge funds, and short duration assets.

    The so-called “bond king” Jeffrey Gundlach, founder and CEO of DoubleLine Capital, told Galloway and Elson in a previous episode that gold was his “number one best idea for the year” and advocated for it to represent 25% of a portfolio—with the percentage dropping to 15% after it seemed to plateau around $4,000 per ounce.

    Individual investors can apply similar defensive strategies. Rather than drastically changing their allocation of funds, Cembalest said he was advising clients to switch from a growth portfolio to a more conservative or balanced one, aligning their risk tolerance with current high valuations.

    Furthermore, individual investors have the flexibility to act quickly during market turmoil, which institutional funds often lack. Cembalest recommends that investors begin accumulating “dry powder” now to take advantage of opportunities. Since corrections often tend to be “very V-shaped,” with a rapid, violent unwinding of risk followed by a quick snapback, having spare cash available allows investors to buy assets when they temporarily sell off.

    While Cembalest acknowledged the immense capital spending in AI—equivalent to the combined cost of the Manhattan Project, the Hoover Dam, and the Apollo program, relative to GDP—he concluded that a 12% to 15% correction scenario is currently more likely than the 40% worst-case outcome.

    Still, as Elson noted in the podcast’s introduction, this kind of correction would still be significant to millions of investors and the entire economy. Cembalest’s base-case scenario is “kind of a big deal in and of itself.”

    Nick Lichtenberg

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  • JPMorgan Says These Are the Surprising Ways Billionaires Use AI at Work and at Home

    In its 2025 Principal Discussions report, JPMorgan asked 111 billionaire clients across 28 countries how they use AI. Out of a group whose combined net worth climbs over $500 billion, 79 percent said they use the tool in their personal lives, and 69 percent said they use it professionally. 

    Of course, many reported instances are more mainstream, like writing, planning travel, and analyzing data. But other use cases make it clear that this demographic is taking advantage of AI for more than just administrative tasks. And they’re being smart about it. 

    One client said they were able to save $100,000 in legal research using an AI-generated report. Another wants to build a plane, so they elicited the help of AI to design a blueprint.

    “The currency of life is time. It is not money,” said one interviewee. “You think carefully about how you spend one dollar. You should think just as carefully as how you spend one hour.”

    Another respondent told JPMorgan they use AI like “a toy” to write bedtime stories for their son that always have “an emotional twist at the end.”

    One family collected voice recordings from older family members and is now working with an AI team to create holograms of them for future generations.

    A few clients mentioned hopping on flights to take AI courses on Ivy League campuses, sometimes with their whole families.

    “It’s exciting,” one person said. “Technology has changed the world, and AI is a new shift that will further enhance these advancements.” 

    But they admitted it’s not all fun and games. Seven percent of respondents included AI/machine learning as one of the top five risks in today’s global environment. That makes the issue number two after geopolitical tensions. 

    According to Business Insider, the energy being harnessed through AI data centers threatens sustainable energy targets, and the cost of public health due to air pollution could reach $9.2 billion annually. 

    Some billionaire respondents said they don’t use AI tools at all. They do business via phone calls, stay away from computers, and “rely on manual calculation or intuition.”

    “It’s pretty scary,” one respondent said. “You already start seeing it behaving on its own, with lack of regulation. The risks are really high.” 

    Ava Levinson

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  • America’s path out of $38 trillion national debt crisis likely involves pushing up inflation and ‘eroding Fed independence,’ says JPMorgan Private Bank | Fortune

    While optimistic economists argue that America can grow its way out of a debt crisis, pessimists believe the real outcome will be somewhat less popular.

    Business leaders, policymakers, and investors are growing increasingly concerned by the United States’s borrowing burden, currently sitting at $38.15 trillion. The worry isn’t necessarily the size of this debt, but rather America’s debt-to-GDP ratio—and hence, its ability to convince investors that it can reliably pay back that debt. It currently stands at about 120%.

    To reduce that ratio requires either GDP to increase or scaling down the debt. On the latter end, this could include cutting public spending. This was already tried by the Trump administration, with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) under Elon Musk claiming to have saved $214 billion.

    While those savings were drastically lower than promises made by the Tesla CEO when DOGE was first formed, and they’re a drop in the ocean of the bigger U.S. deficit picture, it does reveal the renewed focus Washington is giving to debt.

    This will be a prevailing theme for investors as well, according to JPMorgan Private Bank’s outlook for 2026. (The ban serves high net worth individuals.) The report, released today, says there are three issues investors need to bear in mind: Position for the AI revolution, get comfortable with fragmentation over globalization, and prepare for a structural shift in inflation.

    It is this final part, a shift in inflation, which is where the debt question comes in.

    JPMorgan writes: “Some market participants warn of a coming U.S. debt crisis. In the most extreme scenario, the Treasury holds an auction and buyers are nowhere to be found. We see a more subtle risk. In this scenario, instead of a sudden spike in yields, policymakers make a deliberate shift. They tolerate stronger growth and higher inflation, allowing real interest rates to fall and the debt burden to shrink over time.”

    A key snag in the plan is the toleration of higher inflation: After all, this is the remit of the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee (FOMC), which is tasked with keeping inflation as close to 2% as possible. While the FOMC could be swayed to take a broader view than its dual mandate of stable prices and maximum employment if a national debt crisis impacted these factors, it may need more than arguments from politicians.

    The method of allowing the debt burden to shrink thanks to lower rates is called financial repression, and could have knock-on effects on other parts of the economy over time. For example, Fortune reported over the weekend that America’s housing crisis happened, in part, due to a period of sustained low rates after the financial crisis.

    To orchestrate this repression could take some maneuvering, JPMorgan says: “We could see a less straightforward path to reduce the U.S. government’s debt load. Policymakers could erode Fed independence and effectively inflate the debt away by driving a stronger nominal growth environment characterized by higher inflation and, over the near term at least, lower real interest rates.”

    The less popular route

    Economists have previously described the looming debt crisis as a game of “chicken” to Fortune, as one administration passes the issue on to the next without plucking up the courage to address fundamental spending or revenue-raising changes.

    With an ageing American population, any government move to scale back social and healthcare spending would be likely be unpopular enough to prevent it from coming to fruition, the bank says. Likewise, increasing taxes are a sure-fire way to turn off voters.

    The report adds: “U.S. tax collections as a share of GDP are near the low end among OECD nations, suggesting ample capacity—if not the political will—to raise tax revenue to reduce debt. Similarly, mandatory spending on entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare could be curtailed to ‘bend the curve,’ as economists refer to efforts to slow the pace of future spending growth. But those options may prove politically unpalatable.”

    That said, the Trump administration has mustered some “peculiar” proposals for increasing revenue, without too much pushback from the public. One option is foreign cash, with the president claiming his “gold card” visa scheme could generate up to $50 trillion by selling cards to would-be American citizens at a price tag of $5 million apiece. However, America is already home to the majority of the world’s millionaires and the U.S. may struggle to find individuals who could afford such a card.

    Then, of course, there are tariffs, which raked in a record $31 billion in August. Debate is rife about whether U.S. consumers will end up ultimately paying for the policy, or whether the cost will be “eaten” by foreign firms. With a lack of data during the government shutdown, there’s no way to see whether that inflationary pressure is being passed through yet.

    The good news is, “at the moment, investors seem comfortable financing the U.S. government’s debt,” the outlook report added. At the time of writing, U.S. 30-year treasury yields sit at 4.7%, similar to where they began 2025, suggesting buyers of American borrowing are not yet demanding higher premiums to be enticed.

    JPMorgan adds: “U.S. Treasury bond buyers have been lining up, their demand on average 2.6x greater than supply. But the growing debt-to-GDP ratio of nearly 120% of GDP is troubling to most investors and economists. Solving the problem will be tricky.”

    Eleanor Pringle

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  • At Trump’s urging, Bondi says US will investigate Epstein’s ties to Clinton and other political foes

    Acceding to President Donald Trump’s demands, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Friday that she has ordered a top federal prosecutor to investigate sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s ties to Trump political foes, including former President Bill Clinton.Bondi posted on X that she was assigning Manhattan U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton to lead the probe, capping an eventful week in which congressional Republicans released nearly 23,000 pages of documents from Epstein’s estate and House Democrats seized on emails mentioning Trump.Trump, who was friends with Epstein for years, didn’t explain what supposed crimes he wanted the Justice Department to investigate. None of the men he mentioned in a social media post demanding the probe has been accused of sexual misconduct by any of Epstein’s victims.Hours before Bondi’s announcement, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that he would ask her, the Justice Department, and the FBI to investigate Epstein’s “involvement and relationship” with Clinton and others, including former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and LinkedIn founder and Democratic donor Reid Hoffman.Trump, calling the matter “the Epstein Hoax, involving Democrats, not Republicans,” said the investigation should also include financial giant JPMorgan Chase, which provided banking services to Epstein, and “many other people and institutions.”“This is another Russia, Russia, Russia Scam, with all arrows pointing to the Democrats,” the Republican president wrote, referring to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of alleged Russian interference in Trump’s 2016 election victory over Bill Clinton’s wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.Asked later Friday whether he should be ordering up such investigations, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One: “I’m the chief law enforcement officer of the country. I’m allowed to do it.”In a July memo regarding the Epstein investigation, the FBI said, “We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.”The president’s demand for an investigation — and Bondi’s quick acquiescence — is the latest example of the erosion of the Justice Department’s traditional independence from the White House since Trump took office.It is also an extraordinary attempt at deflection. For decades, Trump himself has been scrutinized for his closeness to Epstein — though like the people he now wants investigated, he has not been accused of sexual misconduct by Epstein’s victims.None of Trump’s proposed targets were accused of sex crimesA JPMorgan Chase spokesperson, Patricia Wexler, said the company regretted associating with Epstein “but did not help him commit his heinous acts.”“The government had damning information about his crimes and failed to share it with us or other banks,” she said. The company agreed previously to pay millions of dollars to Epstein’s victims, who had sued arguing that the bank ignored red flags about criminal activity.Clinton has acknowledged traveling on Epstein’s private jet but has said through a spokesperson that he had no knowledge of the late financier’s crimes. He also has never been accused of misconduct by Epstein’s known victims.Clinton’s deputy chief of staff Angel Ureña posted on X Friday: “These emails prove Bill Clinton did nothing and knew nothing. The rest is noise meant to distract from election losses, backfiring shutdowns, and who knows what else.”Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida in 2008 to soliciting prostitution from an underage girl, but was spared a long jail term when the U.S. attorney in Florida agreed not to prosecute him over allegations that he had paid many other children for sexual acts. After serving about a year in jail and a work release program, Epstein resumed his business and social life until federal prosecutors in New York revived the case in 2019. Epstein killed himself while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. Summers and Hoffman had nothing to do with either case, but both were friendly with Epstein and exchanged emails with him. Those messages were among the documents released this week, along with other correspondence Epstein had with friends and business associates in the years before his death.Nothing in the messages suggested any wrongdoing on the men’s part, other than associating with someone who had been accused of sex crimes against children.Summers, who served in Clinton’s cabinet and is a former Harvard University president, previously said in a statement that he has “great regrets in my life” and that “my association with Jeffrey Epstein was a major error of judgement.”On social media Friday night, Hoffman called for Trump to release all the Epstein files, saying they will show that “the calls for baseless investigations of me are nothing more than political persecution and slander.” He added, “I was never a client of Epstein’s and never had any engagement with him other than fundraising for MIT.” Hoffman bankrolled writer E. Jean Carroll’s sexual abuse and defamation lawsuit against Trump.After Epstein’s sex trafficking arrest in 2019, Hoffman said he’d only had a few interactions with Epstein, all related to his fundraising for MIT’s Media Lab. He nevertheless apologized, saying that “by agreeing to participate in any fundraising activity where Epstein was present, I helped to repair his reputation and perpetuate injustice.”Bondi, in her post, praised Clayton as “one of the most capable and trusted prosecutors in the country” and said the Justice Department “will pursue this with urgency and integrity to deliver answers to the American people.”Trump called Clayton “a great man, a great attorney,” though he said Bondi chose him for the job.Clayton, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission during Trump’s first term, took over in April as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York — the same office that indicted Epstein and won a sex trafficking conviction against Epstein’s longtime confidante, Ghislaine Maxwell, in 2021.Trump changes course on Epstein filesTrump suggested while campaigning last year that he’d seek to open up the government’s case files on Epstein, but changed course in recent months, blaming Democrats and painting the matter as a “hoax” amid questions about what knowledge he may have had about Epstein’s yearslong exploitation of underage girls.On Wednesday, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released three Epstein email exchanges that referenced Trump, including one from 2019 in which Epstein said the president “knew about the girls” and asked Maxwell to stop.White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt accused Democrats of having “selectively leaked emails” to smear Trump.Soon after, Republicans on the committee disclosed a far bigger trove of Epstein’s email correspondence, including messages he sent to longtime Trump ally Steve Bannon and to Britain’s former Prince Andrew, now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. Andrew settled a lawsuit out of court with one of Epstein’s victims, who said she had been paid to have sex with the prince.The House is speeding toward a vote next week to force the Justice Department to release all files and communications related to Epstein.“I don’t care about it, release or not,” Trump said Friday. “If you’re going to do it, then you have to go into Epstein’s friends,” he added, naming Clinton and Hoffman.Still, he said: “This is a Democrat hoax. And a couple, a few Republicans have gone along with it because they’re weak and ineffective.”__Bedayn reported from Denver. Associated Press writer Chris Megerian aboard Air Force One contributed to this report.

    NEW YORK —

    Acceding to President Donald Trump’s demands, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Friday that she has ordered a top federal prosecutor to investigate sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s ties to Trump political foes, including former President Bill Clinton.

    Bondi posted on X that she was assigning Manhattan U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton to lead the probe, capping an eventful week in which congressional Republicans released nearly 23,000 pages of documents from Epstein’s estate and House Democrats seized on emails mentioning Trump.

    Trump, who was friends with Epstein for years, didn’t explain what supposed crimes he wanted the Justice Department to investigate. None of the men he mentioned in a social media post demanding the probe has been accused of sexual misconduct by any of Epstein’s victims.

    Hours before Bondi’s announcement, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that he would ask her, the Justice Department, and the FBI to investigate Epstein’s “involvement and relationship” with Clinton and others, including former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and LinkedIn founder and Democratic donor Reid Hoffman.

    Trump, calling the matter “the Epstein Hoax, involving Democrats, not Republicans,” said the investigation should also include financial giant JPMorgan Chase, which provided banking services to Epstein, and “many other people and institutions.”

    “This is another Russia, Russia, Russia Scam, with all arrows pointing to the Democrats,” the Republican president wrote, referring to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of alleged Russian interference in Trump’s 2016 election victory over Bill Clinton’s wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

    Asked later Friday whether he should be ordering up such investigations, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One: “I’m the chief law enforcement officer of the country. I’m allowed to do it.”

    In a July memo regarding the Epstein investigation, the FBI said, “We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.”

    The president’s demand for an investigation — and Bondi’s quick acquiescence — is the latest example of the erosion of the Justice Department’s traditional independence from the White House since Trump took office.

    It is also an extraordinary attempt at deflection. For decades, Trump himself has been scrutinized for his closeness to Epstein — though like the people he now wants investigated, he has not been accused of sexual misconduct by Epstein’s victims.

    None of Trump’s proposed targets were accused of sex crimes

    A JPMorgan Chase spokesperson, Patricia Wexler, said the company regretted associating with Epstein “but did not help him commit his heinous acts.”

    “The government had damning information about his crimes and failed to share it with us or other banks,” she said. The company agreed previously to pay millions of dollars to Epstein’s victims, who had sued arguing that the bank ignored red flags about criminal activity.

    Clinton has acknowledged traveling on Epstein’s private jet but has said through a spokesperson that he had no knowledge of the late financier’s crimes. He also has never been accused of misconduct by Epstein’s known victims.

    Clinton’s deputy chief of staff Angel Ureña posted on X Friday: “These emails prove Bill Clinton did nothing and knew nothing. The rest is noise meant to distract from election losses, backfiring shutdowns, and who knows what else.”

    Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida in 2008 to soliciting prostitution from an underage girl, but was spared a long jail term when the U.S. attorney in Florida agreed not to prosecute him over allegations that he had paid many other children for sexual acts. After serving about a year in jail and a work release program, Epstein resumed his business and social life until federal prosecutors in New York revived the case in 2019. Epstein killed himself while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

    Summers and Hoffman had nothing to do with either case, but both were friendly with Epstein and exchanged emails with him. Those messages were among the documents released this week, along with other correspondence Epstein had with friends and business associates in the years before his death.

    Nothing in the messages suggested any wrongdoing on the men’s part, other than associating with someone who had been accused of sex crimes against children.

    Summers, who served in Clinton’s cabinet and is a former Harvard University president, previously said in a statement that he has “great regrets in my life” and that “my association with Jeffrey Epstein was a major error of judgement.”

    On social media Friday night, Hoffman called for Trump to release all the Epstein files, saying they will show that “the calls for baseless investigations of me are nothing more than political persecution and slander.” He added, “I was never a client of Epstein’s and never had any engagement with him other than fundraising for MIT.” Hoffman bankrolled writer E. Jean Carroll’s sexual abuse and defamation lawsuit against Trump.

    After Epstein’s sex trafficking arrest in 2019, Hoffman said he’d only had a few interactions with Epstein, all related to his fundraising for MIT’s Media Lab. He nevertheless apologized, saying that “by agreeing to participate in any fundraising activity where Epstein was present, I helped to repair his reputation and perpetuate injustice.”

    Bondi, in her post, praised Clayton as “one of the most capable and trusted prosecutors in the country” and said the Justice Department “will pursue this with urgency and integrity to deliver answers to the American people.”

    Trump called Clayton “a great man, a great attorney,” though he said Bondi chose him for the job.

    Clayton, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission during Trump’s first term, took over in April as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York — the same office that indicted Epstein and won a sex trafficking conviction against Epstein’s longtime confidante, Ghislaine Maxwell, in 2021.

    Trump changes course on Epstein files

    Trump suggested while campaigning last year that he’d seek to open up the government’s case files on Epstein, but changed course in recent months, blaming Democrats and painting the matter as a “hoax” amid questions about what knowledge he may have had about Epstein’s yearslong exploitation of underage girls.

    On Wednesday, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released three Epstein email exchanges that referenced Trump, including one from 2019 in which Epstein said the president “knew about the girls” and asked Maxwell to stop.

    White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt accused Democrats of having “selectively leaked emails” to smear Trump.

    Soon after, Republicans on the committee disclosed a far bigger trove of Epstein’s email correspondence, including messages he sent to longtime Trump ally Steve Bannon and to Britain’s former Prince Andrew, now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. Andrew settled a lawsuit out of court with one of Epstein’s victims, who said she had been paid to have sex with the prince.

    The House is speeding toward a vote next week to force the Justice Department to release all files and communications related to Epstein.

    “I don’t care about it, release or not,” Trump said Friday. “If you’re going to do it, then you have to go into Epstein’s friends,” he added, naming Clinton and Hoffman.

    Still, he said: “This is a Democrat hoax. And a couple, a few Republicans have gone along with it because they’re weak and ineffective.”

    __

    Bedayn reported from Denver. Associated Press writer Chris Megerian aboard Air Force One contributed to this report.

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  • Trump responds to appearance in new Epstein emails by pushing DOJ probe of Clinton, Larry Summers, Reid Hoffman | Fortune

    President Donald Trump moved aggressively to deflect scrutiny on Friday after a new batch of Jeffrey Epstein’s private emails — released this week by the House Oversight Committee — resurfaced his own long-scrutinized relationship with the disgraced financier.

    Hours after the documents circulated widely online, Trump took to Truth Social with a sweeping demand: he said he will ask Attorney General Pam Bondi, the Department of Justice, and the FBI to investigate Epstein’s ties to “Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, Reid Hoffman, J.P. Morgan, Chase, and many other people and institutions,” claiming that “all arrows point to the Democrats.”

    Bondi quickly agreed, posting on X Friday afternoon that she had assigned Attorney Jay Clayton to the case. Clayton is a high-profile figure among Republicans, having chaired the SEC during Trump’s first term and now acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. 

    Clinton has strongly denied that he had knowledge of Epstein’s crimes. In the emails, Epstein mentioned several times that Clinton was “never on the island.” However, the two knew each other in the early 2000s. Clinton did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

    On the other hand, Summers had a seemingly close and unusually personal relationship with the disgraced financier who at times acted as his informal relationship coach. Newly released emails from 2017 to 2019 show the former Treasury secretary corresponding with Epstein regularly, sometimes multiple times a day, seeking advice about his interactions with a woman in London.

    In one exchange, Summers lamented that the woman had grown distant: “I said what are you up to. She said ‘I’m busy.’ I said awfully coy u are,” he wrote. Epstein replied within minutes, offering reassurance and strategy: “she’s smart. making you pay for past errors. ignore the daddy im going to go out with the motorcycle guy … annoyed shows caring, no whining showed strength.”

    Other emails show Summers forwarding Epstein notes from the woman and asking whether he should respond. “Think no response for a while probably appropriate,” Summers wrote in one case. Epstein encouraged the silence, replying, “She’s already begining to sound needy 🙂 nice.”

    Summers has previously said he regrets his past ties to Epstein. Summers did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

    Hoffman, the LinkedIn co-founder, billionaire investor and major Democratic donor, had an established relationship with Epstein, according to documents reviewed by the Wall Street Journal. Schedules show Epstein planned multiple trips with him—including two visits to Epstein’s island, Little St. James in 2014—and arranged for Hoffman to stay overnight at his Manhattan townhouse before attending a “breakfast party” with Bill Gates and others the next morning.

    Hoffman now says he deeply regrets the interactions. “It gnaws at me that, by lending my association, I helped his reputation, and thus delayed justice for his survivors,” he told the Journal. “Ultimately I made the mistake, and I am sorry for my personal misjudgment.”

    Hoffman could not be reached for comment.

    Trump’s inclusion of JPMorgan comes after the bank paid out more than $450 million in 2023 across multiple settlements related to its historic relationship with Epstein — including a $290 million agreement with a class of victims and a $75 million deal with the U.S. Virgin Islands. The bank has repeatedly said it “deeply regrets any association” with Epstein and would not have kept him as a client had it known of his crimes.

    JPMorgan did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

    Epstein repeatedly described Trump in blunt, often hostile terms

    The release of the files — which Trump framed as an effort to expose an “Epstein Hoax” that he claims Democrats are weaponizing to distract from the shutdown– show Epstein repeatedly discussing Trump. They contradict Trump’s own account of their split, and Epstein offers his private, often caustic assessments of the man who would become president.

    Across messages with lawyers, acquaintances, reporters, academics, and political figures, Epstein invoked Trump constantly, often bragging that he possessed insider insight into Trump’s private world. In one 2017 exchange, Epstein dismissed him sharply: “your world does not understand how dumb he really is. he will blame everyone around him.” A year later, he described Trump as “evil beyond belief, mad… nuts!!!” 

    The emails also directly challenge one of Trump’s most frequently repeated claims: that he expelled Epstein from Mar-a-Lago for inappropriate behavior. 

    In a 2019 message to author Michael Wolff, Epstein flatly rejected the story: “Trump said he asked me to resign, never a member ever.”In another email, Epstein claimed a woman who worked at the club had been involved with him and wrote, “Trump knew of it, and came to my house many times during that period.” The documents do not substantiate these assertions, and the White House has denied them.

    One of the most explosive lines appears in a 2011 note to Ghislaine Maxwell: “that dog that hasn’t barked is trump.. [Victim] spent hours at my house with him ,, he has never once been mentioned.” During a press conference, the White House pointed to the testimony of Virginia Giuffre, a prominent Epstein accuser who committed suicide earlier this year and said Trump did not participate “in anything.”

    Epstein also imagined himself as holding leverage over Trump. In a December 2018 exchange, after someone suggested Trump’s critics were simply trying to “take down” the president, Epstein replied: “yes thx. its wild. because i am the one able to take him down.” 

    The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

    Eva Roytburg

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  • 14 FinAi execs to watch in 2026

    Banks, fintechs, credit unions and tech giants are looking to leadership to spearhead AI strategy as the technology continues to improve speed, efficiency and overall productivity in the industry.  FI leaders are experimenting with AI, deploying it and hiring talent to support AI initiatives, which have become priorities.  This year, more “chief” AI titles have […]

    The post 14 FinAi execs to watch in 2026 appeared first on FinAi News.

    Whitney McDonald

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  • Laid-off Meta workers may have future in FinAi

    Technology companies and financial institutions are open to hiring some of the 600 AI unit employees laid off by Meta last month.   AI-native feedback intelligence platform Pulse and financial services giant JPMorgan Chase are both hiring. Pulse co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Ritvik Pandey took to LinkedIn to say, “For those impacted by the […]

    Whitney McDonald

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  • Deloitte: Banks need overarching vision for AI adoption

    Banks in the United States are continuing their investment in AI, which will have both short- and long-term effects on their efficiency ratios.  Publicly held banks are expected to experience a slight increase in their average efficiency ratio — from 56.3% in 2025 to 56.9% in 2026 and 57.1% in 2027, according to Deloitte’s 2026 […]

    Vaidik Trivedi

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  • Anthropic Strikes Major Compute Deal With Google, Echoing OpenAI’s Chip Alliances

    Dario Amodei, a former OpenAI executive, founded Anthropic in 2021. Photo by Chance Yeh/Getty Images for HubSpot

    The latest sign of the A.I. industry’s unrelenting hunt for computing power comes from an expanded agreement between Anthropic and Google—a deal that, like several others struck in recent months, underscores the rise of circular arrangements across Silicon Valley. Under the new agreement, Google will provide Anthropic with well over one gigawatt of computing capacity by 2026, the companies announced yesterday (Oct. 23).

    Anthropic noted that the deal is worth “tens of billions of dollars” but didn’t provide an exact figure. The partnership further deepens the startup’s ties with Google, which has already invested about $3 billion in Anthropic and is expected to supply the company with up to 1 million of its custom A.I. chips, called tensor processing units (TPUs).

    Such partnerships are increasingly essential as leading A.I. startups scale at a breakneck pace. Anthropic, which now serves over 300,000 business customers, said the number of clients generating more than $100,000 in annual revenue has grown nearly sevenfold in the past year. “Anthropic and Google have a longstanding partnership, and this latest expansion will help us continue to grow the compute we need to define the frontier of A.I.,” said Krishna Rao, Anthropic’s chief financial officer, in a statement.

    Founded in 2021 by CEO Dario Amodei and several former OpenAI employees, Anthropic positioned itself as a safety-focused alternative to early A.I. players. Best known for its chatbot Claude, the company recently hit a $183 billion valuation and is reportedly on track to generate $9 billion in annual revenue.

    Despite its closer ties with Google, Anthropic emphasized that it remains committed to its “primary training partner,” Amazon, which has invested $8 billion in exchange for providing compute through its chips and A.I. cluster Project Rainier. The company also continues to rely on Nvidia’s GPUs as part of what it calls a “multi-platform approach.” Anthropic said it will keep investing in additional compute capacity as demand grows.

    Anthropic’s mutually beneficial partnerships with Google and Amazon reflect a broader trend: a broader industry trend: a growing web of interconnected A.I. partnerships between model developers and compute providers, each investing in and purchasing one another’s technology. OpenAI has been at the forefront of this shift, announcing a flurry of major deals in recent months, including an agreement with AMD to access six gigawatts of computing power, a deal with Nvidia to access 10 gigawatts of compute, and a $300 billion, five-year partnership with Oracle.

    The growing prevalence of such circular arrangements has raised some eyebrows in Silicon Valley, recalling the speculative interdependencies of the dot-com bubble and its eventual crash. But unlike that era, today’s A.I. spending is bolstered by stronger capitalization and clearer monetization potential, said Stephanie Aliaga, global market strategist for JPMorgan Chase, in a blog post earlier this month.

    Still, Aliaga cautioned that the concern isn’t misplaced. “The scale of spending is enormous, the pace unprecedented, and some assumptions around ROI, like the useful lives of assets, remain open questions,” she said. “History reminds us that enthusiasm can run ahead of reality,” she wrote.

    Anthropic Strikes Major Compute Deal With Google, Echoing OpenAI’s Chip Alliances

    Alexandra Tremayne-Pengelly

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  • JPMorgan’s AI-driven LLM Suite yields 4 hours of productivity per employee each week

    JPMorganChase is gaining quantifiable efficiency through its AI-driven LLM Suite.   The $3.6 billion bank rolled out the tool in the summer of 2024 and is seeing wide adoption in addition to the efficiency gains, Chief Data and Analytics Officer Teresa Heitsenrether said today at the Evident AI Symposium in New York. Evident AI is […]

    Vaidik Trivedi

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  • JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon Sounds Alarm on a Troubling Corner of Subprime Lending

    Jamie Dimon warned that there could be more to come after the bankruptcies of Tricolor and First Brands. Photo: Noam Galai/Getty Images

    Last month’s collapses of Tricolor and First Brands, a subprime auto lender and auto-parts supplier, respectively, sent alarm bells ringing across Wall Street about the health of the consumer credit market. Those concerns deepened today (Oct. 14) as JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon warned during the bank’s quarterly earnings call that “everyone should be forewarned” by the recent bankruptcies.

    “My antenna goes up when things like that happen,” Dimon told analysts. “I probably shouldn’t say this, but when you see one cockroach, there are probably more.”

    Tricolor filed for bankruptcy in September amid allegations of fraud. The Dallas-based company specialized in providing auto loans to so-called “subprime” lenders with low credit scores. First Brands, a car parts manufacturer headquartered in Rochester, Mich., went bankrupt shortly afterward, with more than $2 billion in funds unaccounted for. Both companies had received financing from various Wall Street banks, sparking fears that financial institutions could increasingly be put at risk due to their exposure to non-bank lenders.

    JPMorgan said it had no exposure to First Brands. But it was impacted by Tricolor’s collapse, taking a $170 million charge-off—a loss recognized when a loan won’t be repaid—stemming from the company’s bankruptcy. The hit took place during an otherwise strong quarter for JPMorgan, which beat analyst expectations on both revenue and profit for July through September. Revenue rose 9 percent year-over-year to $47 billion, while net income climbed 12 percent to $14.4 billion.

    Dimon said the bank is now reviewing “all processes, all procedures, all underwriting—all everything” in light of the Tricolor collapse. “There clearly was, in my opinion, fraud involved in a bunch of these things. But that doesn’t mean we can’t improve our procedures,” he added.

    Dimon, who has led JPMorgan for nearly two decades, also warned that weaknesses in the credit market could worsen if the economy deteriorates. “We’ve had a benign credit environment for so long that I think you may see credit in other places deteriorate a little bit more than people think when, in fact, there’s a downturn,” he said, adding that he is hoping for a “fairly normal credit cycle.”

    Even so, the bulk of JPMorgan’s lending to non-bank financial institutions (NBFI) is not particularly risky, said Jeremy Barnum, the bank’s chief financial officer. “The vast majority of that type of lending that we do is highly secured or in some way structured or securitized,” he told analysts today. “I’m not sure that our lending to the NBFI community is an area of risk that we see as more elevated than other areas of risk.”

    JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon Sounds Alarm on a Troubling Corner of Subprime Lending

    Alexandra Tremayne-Pengelly

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  • JPMorgan proves AI returns with ‘old-fashioned’ expense discipline

    JPMorgan Chase continues to invest in AI while prioritizing tangible outcomes of efficiency gains.  Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said the bank invests $2 billion annually in AI development and is roughly breaking even on savings in a recent interview with Bloomberg.  Read more: JPMorgan ranks first for AI among banks with its systematic innovation approach  […]

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  • Global Banking Powerhouses Plan Issuing New Stablecoins Tied To G7 Currencies

    A consortium of major banks, including Bank of America, Citi, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, and UBS, announced on Friday that they will collaborate to explore the development of stablecoins pegged to G7 currencies. 

    A New Era For Crypto In Mainstream Finance

    The renewed interest in stablecoins comes in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s endorsement of the sector, which has reignited discussions about integrating blockchain technology into mainstream finance. 

    Currently, the stablecoin market is heavily dominated by Tether (USDT), based in El Salvador, which accounts for approximately $179 billion of the total $310 billion in stablecoins circulating, according to data from CoinGecko.

    The 1D chart shows the total market cap drop in what has been the largest liquidation event in crypto. Source: TOTAL on TradingView.com

    The banks involved in this new initiative, which also includes Santander, Barclays, BNP Paribas, MUFG, TD Bank Group, and others, have stated that the goal is to assess whether a collaborative industry offering could enhance competition and bring the benefits of digital assets to the market, all while ensuring compliance.

    Related Reading

    Notably, France’s Societe Generale recently became the first major bank to issue a dollar-backed stablecoin through its digital asset subsidiary, although it has seen limited adoption, with only $30.6 million currently in circulation.

    In addition to this consortium, a separate group of nine European banks, including prominent names like ING and UniCredit, is also in the process of launching a euro-denominated stablecoin. 

    Meanwhile, Citi has made strides in the stablecoin space by investing in BVNK, a company focused on stablecoin infrastructure. 

    Demand For Stablecoin Solutions Grows

    Although Citi has not disclosed the amount of its investment, the co-founder of BVNK, Chris Harmse, told during an interview with CNBC, that the company’s valuation has surpassed $750 million, as reported in its latest funding round.

    Harmse remarked on the increasing demand for stablecoin infrastructure, particularly with the emergence of regulatory clarity through the passage of the GENIUS Act in the US. This has prompted major US banks to strategically position themselves in the crypto ecosystem. 

    Citi’s CEO, Jane Fraser, has indicated that the bank is contemplating the issuance of its own stablecoin while also exploring custodian services for digital assets. However, Citi is not alone in its pursuit of digital asset integration; JPMorgan Chase has already launched its own stablecoin-like token, JPMD.

    Related Reading

    Banks are increasingly investigating how blockchain technology—originally developed to support Bitcoin—can reduce transaction costs and enhance processing speeds across various financial operations. 

    This exploration includes the concept of tokenization, which involves creating digital tokens that represent traditional assets, such as deposits. For instance, Bank of New York Mellon is currently looking into tokenized deposits, while HSBC has already rolled out a tokenized deposit service.

    Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com 

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  • Wall Street Leaders Split on Trump’s Push to Change Quarterly Earnings Rules

    JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon supports amending quarterly earnings report requirements. Michel Euler/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

    Since 1970, U.S. public companies have been mandated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to provide financial updates every three months via quarterly earnings reports. This 55-year-old tradition could soon be cut in half under the Trump administration, which is seeking to move to semi-annual reports. The proposal has drawn both praise and criticism from some of Wall Street’s most influential leaders.

    Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, voiced his support for President Donald Trump’s suggestion during an interview with Bloomberg TV yesterday (Oct. 7). “I would welcome it,” he said, noting that quarterly forecasts make “CEOs get their back up against a wall.” “They have to meet these things—earnings—and then they start doing dumb stuff,” he added.

    Trump floated the proposal last month, arguing that reporting earnings every six months instead of three would “save money and allow managers to focus on properly running their companies.” The President previously pushed for a similar change in 2018 during his first term, when the SEC solicited public feedback but ultimately left the quarterly requirement in place.

    This time, however, the SEC appears more willing to act. The agency has indicated that the proposal will be a priority, with Paul Atkins, the SEC’s chair, calling the President’s request “timely” and something the SEC is “working to fast-track.” A draft proposal could be released in the next few months, according to Atkins.

    Dimon said JPMorgan would still report earnings quarterly, but with “much less stuff.” He described the requirement as part of a larger problem of “endless rules” that make it harder for companies to go public. “We’ve gone from 8,000 public companies in 1996 to, like, 4,000 today,” he told Bloomberg. “You want an active market, and we’ve kind of crushed it.”

    Dimon isn’t alone in supporting the potential shift. Adena Friedman, CEO of Nasdaq, praised Trump’s proposal after it was announced, arguing that quarterly reporting encourages “short-termism“—an excessive focus on immediate results. In a LinkedIn post, she called for “common-sense reforms to reduce the burden on publicly listed companies.”

    What financial leaders think of quarterly reporting

    The benefits of semi-annual reporting are evident, according to David Solomon, CEO of Goldman Sachs. Fewer earnings reports free up time for companies and allow executives to take a long-term view, he remarked during a talk last month at Georgetown University. “As a CEO, I’d obviously rather do two earnings calls a year than four earnings calls a year,” he said.

    Still, Solomon admitted that eliminating quarterly reports could reduce transparency. “I’m still thinking it through, and the firm’s still thinking it through,” he added, noting that he has yet to decide whether he supports the change.

    Citadel CEO Ken Griffin, however, has made up his mind. “I don’t understand the merits of holding back from the market, readily knowable information,” he told CNBC in September, warning that accountability could suffer if longer gaps between reports are allowed. “In this day and age, quarterly reporting is fair,” added Griffin. Griffin agreed with Dimon’s view that overregulation discourages initial public offerings, saying barriers to expanding the number of publicly owned companies should be addressed.

    This isn’t the first time financial leaders have questioned the quarterly reporting model. In 2018, Dimon and Warren Buffett co-authored a Wall Street Journal op-ed urging companies to reduce or eliminate quarterly earnings forecasts. They argued that such forecasts push companies toward short-term thinking and discourage those with longer-term goals from going public. “Our views on quarterly earnings forecasts should not be misconstrued as opposition to quarterly and annual reporting,” wrote Dimon and Buffett, who maintained that transparency remains “an essential aspect of U.S. public markets.”

    Wall Street Leaders Split on Trump’s Push to Change Quarterly Earnings Rules

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  • JPMorgan ranks first for AI among banks with its systematic innovation approach

    JPMorgan is topping the list for AI readiness and leadership among all banks globally for the third year in a row.  According to think tank Evident AI’s Bank Index report published today, the $3.7 trillion bank is followed by the following financial institutions to round out the top 10 spots: $648 billion Capital One; $1.5 […]

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  • Agentic AI deployment requires 4 prerequisites

    Agentic AI for financial services has arrived, but before going all in on the emerging technology, financial institutions have multiple considerations to address — including knowing how to get started.   More than 80.5% of 3,300 finance and accounting professionals polled said AI-powered tools, like agents and generative AI, could become the standard tools for […]

    Whitney McDonald

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  • Agentic AI deployment requires 4 prerequisites

    Agentic AI for financial services has arrived, but before going all in on the emerging technology, financial institutions have multiple considerations to address — including knowing how to get started.   More than 80.5% of 3,300 finance and accounting professionals polled said AI-powered tools, like agents and generative AI, could become the standard tools for […]

    Whitney McDonald

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  • JPMorgan Connects Wealthy Clients With Private Jets, Butlers | Entrepreneur

    JPMorgan Chase’s wealthiest clients will now receive discounts and referrals on services from luxury travel to art restoration.

    JPMorgan Private Bank announced on Tuesday that it is offering a new lifestyle program for its wealthy U.S. clients, providing access to services like booking private jets and hiring household staff. Services also include financial reporting programs, bill pay, and bookkeeping.

    One service, for example, provides clients free access to Valerie Wilson Travel, a company JPMorgan acquired in 2022, for travel planning and advice. (JPMorgan did not name any other travel companies available through the network, but said that there was a wide range of firms offering exclusive services.) Another exclusive service involves maintaining and selling art collections.

    Related: JPMorgan’s New ‘Supertall’ Office Offers Perks Like High-End Restaurants and a High-Tech Gym. Here’s What Else to Expect.

    For JPMorgan clients, there is no additional fee to tap into the new services, according to the press release. The new programming is part of a wider industry trend where private banks are expanding beyond traditional investment and financial guidance.

    William Sinclair, co-head of J.P. Morgan Private Bank’s Global Family Office Practice, told CNBC that wealthy clients are increasingly seeking more than just financial advice from their advisors, including managing artwork collections and payroll management for household employees.

    “There is a growing trend among clients who want our advice outside of traditional wealth management,” Sinclair told the outlet.

    JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon. Photographer: Patrick Bolger/Bloomberg via Getty Images

    Sinclair stated that the most requested services have been private jet travel, bill pay, and requests from business owners to help find health insurance plans for employees.

    JPMorgan is also planning to add more features to the lifestyle service as it grows, Emily Margolis, head of JPMorgan Private Bank’s lifestyle services, told CNBC.

    “We’re looking at physical security, insurance, more in-depth HR, areas that we see more requests,” Margolis told the outlet.

    Related: JPMorgan Will Fire Junior Bankers Over a Common Practice That CEO Jamie Dimon Calls ‘Unethical’

    Expanding lifestyle services ties into JPMorgan’s overall strategy to grow as a bank. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon talked about the company’s overarching growth plan and commitment to investments at the bank’s annual Investor Day in May.

    “There’s a lot of competition,” he stated at the event. “You have to be prepared every day to make the investment you need to do in your people, your systems, your ops, your culture, and stuff like that to actually win.”

    JPMorgan is also the largest U.S. bank with over $4.3 trillion in assets as of March 31. The bank had a market value of over $845 billion at the time of writing.

    Related: JPMorgan Is Now Valued More Than Its 3 Largest Competitors Combined: ‘We’re Quite Cautious to Just Declare Victory’

    JPMorgan Chase’s wealthiest clients will now receive discounts and referrals on services from luxury travel to art restoration.

    JPMorgan Private Bank announced on Tuesday that it is offering a new lifestyle program for its wealthy U.S. clients, providing access to services like booking private jets and hiring household staff. Services also include financial reporting programs, bill pay, and bookkeeping.

    One service, for example, provides clients free access to Valerie Wilson Travel, a company JPMorgan acquired in 2022, for travel planning and advice. (JPMorgan did not name any other travel companies available through the network, but said that there was a wide range of firms offering exclusive services.) Another exclusive service involves maintaining and selling art collections.

    The rest of this article is locked.

    Join Entrepreneur+ today for access.

    Sherin Shibu

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  • Should banks charge for access to consumer data?

    Amid an uncertain future for open banking, varying views on data sharing could pose a setback.  JPMorgan, for one, is asking for data sharing companies to pay for access to consumer data, Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said in his annual letter to shareholders in April.  According to the Banking Policy Institute, it’s costly for banks […]

    Vaidik Trivedi

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  • Should banks charge for access to consumer data?

    Amid an uncertain future for open banking, varying views on data sharing could pose a setback.  JPMorgan, for one, is asking for data sharing companies to pay for access to consumer data, Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said in his annual letter to shareholders in April.  According to the Banking Policy Institute, it’s costly for banks […]

    Vaidik Trivedi

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