Dive Brief:
- JPMorgan Chase is spending half of its $11.5 billion technology budget on IT maintenance and half on innovative change, according to CFO Marianne Lake, during the bank's Q1 2019 earnings call earlier this month.
- The bank revealed expenses were up by 2% to $16.4 billion, partially in relation to continued technology investments, according to Lake.
- Much of the initial growth in JPMorgan Chase's tech spend was dedicated to tools that change the bank, including platform modernization and cloud, controls and security, customer experience and digital, and R&D.
Dive Insight:
The net investment will be "more flat going forward," said Lake. The value each dollar has contributed to its technology endeavors has indicated that future spend will level out.
"We feel like we should see our net investment spend reach a reasonable plateau" over the next few years, said Lake. The tech investments are dedicated to optimizing operations, along with customer service, risk management and revenue generation.
Last year the company was more focused on using its tech spend to run the bank, or 60% dedicated to keeping the lights on and 40% for innovation, said Lake.
When CIO Lori Beer joined the company in 2017, she had an unprecedented $9.5 billion tech budget. She came to the bank after her predecessor overhauled its global technology and transitioned to agile software development and the public cloud.
This year, the bank has earmarked an $11.4 billion tech budget, an almost 6% increase from 2018. Last year, half of the bank's budget was dedicated to overall change, including investments in platforms, data and modernization.
