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JPMorgan exec says the bank is ‘broadly comfortable’ with its $50 billion private credit exposure

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As several Wall Street banks reported first-quarter earnings on Tuesday, executives had to answer for their exposure to the private credit market, which has been under a microscope recently.

CFO Jeremy Barnum estimated the bank’s exposure to private credit funds was $50 billion.

“We’re broadly comfortable with it,” Barnum said on a call with analysts. He explained that the $50 billion is part of approximately $160 billion worth of broader exposure to non-bank financial institutions. The private credit market has been under heightened scrutiny for the quality of its loans and for exposure to companies that could be vulnerable to AI disruption. As a result, some retail-oriented investment funds have had higher redemption requests.

When answering a question on private credit, Barnum said that though nothing JPMorgan does is without risk, “this is a space that we’re quite comfortable with as a function of very close scrutiny on the way that we do the business and ensuring that the underwriting is high quality and that we’ve got a bunch of structural protections in place.”

On the call, Dimon said he doesn’t think the risks to the private credit market are systemic, echoing his comments in his annual letter to shareholders earlier this month.

“You have to have very large losses in private credit before, at least it looks like, banks are going to get hit,” he said on Tuesday’s call with analysts. “It doesn’t mean you won’t feel some stress and strain, and that you might have to do something about it, but I’m not particularly worried about it.”

Dimon said that the bigger risk, as he sees it, is how a credit cycle will filter through the economy. He predicted that losses would be worse than people anticipate when there is an eventual credit cycle.

Wells Fargo and Citi, which both reported first-quarter earnings on Tuesday, also revealed their exposure to private credit firms. Wells Fargo estimated that its exposure was around $36.2 billion, and Citi said its exposure was $22 billion in their respective earnings presentations.

Many banks also offer investment vehicles for customers who want to invest directly in private credit. JPMorgan is planning to launch the JPMorgan Public and Private Credit Fund, an interval fund open to retail investors that allows quarterly redemptions of 7.5%, according to an SEC filing from last month. Many of the largest private credit managers have recently capped their quarterly withdrawals at 5%, despite investors requesting higher withdrawals.




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Alice Tecotzky

JPMorgan’s commercial and investment bank gets an AI-driven reshuffle

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JPMorgan is consolidating power to move faster on AI.

The bank is reshuffling its commercial and investment bank to “maximize the impact of AI,” according to an internal memo seen by Business Insider that was sent this week.

The firm has named Guy Halamish as the chief operating officer of the CIB and tasked him with overseeing the ongoing effort to “harness the power of our data and fully leverage rapidly evolving AI capabilities,” the memo, signed by the CIB’s co-CEOs, Doug Petno and Troy Rohrbaugh, said. Halamish’s new role was first reported by Bloomberg.


Guy Halamish

Guy Halamish is taking on a new role as part of the AI push.

JPMorgan



Under the new structure, each major business in the division, including banking, markets, payments, and securities services, will have its own chief data and analytics officer reporting jointly to Halamish and business heads. The bank recently hired Zachery Anderson as the chief data and analytics officer of its payments division, after a nearly six-year stint at UK-based lender NatWest. In a LinkedIn post about the new job, Anderson said he wants to push the “edge of the possible with AI.”

The move is part of a new strategy to break silos across the unit and speed up adoption of AI.

The team of officers will work with the wider firm on a range of efforts, including “preparing our infrastructure for more advanced AI and the expanded use of AI agents” and “driving end-to-end transformation” in areas such as client onboarding.

The CIB is a huge profit driver for JPMorgan — in 2024, it generated $25 billion in net income out of a firmwide total of $58.5 billion, according to that year’s annual report.

JPMorgan, backed last year by an approximately $18 billion tech budget, is one of the financial industry’s leaders in AI, with its own proprietary genAI platform and additional tools in the pipeline. CEO Jamie Dimon defended the firm’s AI spending on a recent earnings call.

“We are going to stay out front, so help us God,” Dimon said about the spending.

Work at JPMorgan or have a tip? Contact this reporter via email at atecotzky@insider.com or Signal at alicetecotzky.05. Use a personal email address and a nonwork device; here’s our guide to sharing information securely.




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Bank employees, rejoice: 60% of finance CEOs don’t see head count shrinking because of AI

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  • Of the 240 financial CEOs EY surveyed, only 28% see AI reducing head count in 2026.
  • Nearly half of the CEOs said AI is the most critical factor in their company’s ability to adapt.
  • Some Wall Street leaders have said AI will eliminate some roles, but ultimately increase head count.

Banks’ analyst classes probably won’t swap fresh-faced college grads for bots — at least not this year.

Some 60% of the 240 financial services CEOs that EY surveyed for its Quarterly CEO Outlook Survey said they think investing in AI will maintain or even increase their current head count in 2026. Only 28% of those surveyed predicted head count would drop this year.

Leaders at some of the biggest banks, including JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, have said that they’re resisting hiring growth where it makes sense to prioritize efficiency. They, along with some other bulge-bracket leads, have predicted that AI could grow head count in the long run, though. Still, some roles are becoming obsolete: Citi CEO Jane Fraser said in a recent internal memo that some jobs “will no longer be required” as AI advances.

For their part, the financial services CEOs that EY surveyed are similarly bullish about AI’s capacity to transform the workplace, and nearly half see AI and digital investment as the most important factor in their companies’ ability to thrive and adapt this year.

Around a quarter said their AI initiatives have significantly beaten expectations, and 57% said they’ve shown results faster than expected. Just more than half said they expect the biggest transformations to come from generative AI.

When it comes to hiring for AI talent — itself a highly competitive market — 87% of CEOs in EY’s survey are optimistic about their ability to attract and keep talent in 2026. The question of returns on the AI investment, for talent and in general, also seems top of mind for the financial services leaders. Seventy-six percent of boards in the survey said they’ll review transformation ROI metrics as often as financial results.

Firms of all sizes are being asked to justify their AI spends, as analysts and investors begin to wonder whether the sometimes billion-dollar bets will show up on balance sheets.




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One fitness supplement can help you build muscle and maybe boost longevity without breaking the bank, according to experts

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Stop wasting your time and money on subpar supplements.

One ingredient should be your first priority for building muscle, burning fat, and aging gracefully, according to exercise science pros.

Creatine is a combo of amino acids that provides energy to muscles and other tissues, like the brain. Our bodies produce it naturally, but growing research suggests supplementing with store-bought pills and powders is a smart idea.

It’s long been the uncontested king in the fitness supplement world for fueling gains, personal trainers, dietitians, and researchers told Business Insider. Now, even more studies suggest it has benefits beyond the gym, helping bolster the brain to support mental and cognitive health.

For less than 50 cents a serving, it’s the gold standard of evidence-based health hacks, with an impressive resume of potential perks.

Want to start taking creatine? Here’s how it works, and the best way to use it for peak performance, according to top researchers.

Creatine helps fuel more reps, leading to better gains

Long a staple of the sports world and bodybuilding community alike, creatine has been extensively studied as a fitness supplement for decades. It first caught on in the ’90s thanks to Olympians who swore by it for elite athletic competition.

Since then, researchers have consistently found that it’s safe to use and offers a small but significant boost to performance.

It works by providing extra fuel in the body’s energy cycle. That translates to better gains or faster fat burning if you’re working out, since you can power through more work that you might otherwise.

That makes it a standout performer in the supplement aisle. Creatine has much stronger evidence and broader benefits than products like pre-workouts, which can vary in ingredients and often don’t disclose what’s actually included.

It’s also distinct from protein shakes and powders, which offer the same nutritional benefits as food, but in a more convenient format. There is some creatine in foods like meat and fish, but it’s much harder to get than protein — you’d have to eat more than two pounds of steak to get the amount of creatine in a single scoop of supplement powder.

Other supplements are less evidence-based, less reliable, and can have more risks, particularly when bought online via grey-market websites.

The only supplement that comes close to challenging creatine in terms of wide-ranging benefit and extensive research is caffeine. While caffeine can boost workouts and is relatively safe in moderate doses, it can have serious side effects in large amounts, so you’re better off having a coffee than a concentrated supplement.

The best type of creatine to choose for muscle gains and fat loss

Not all creatine on the market is the same. The most well-researched form is creatine monohydrate, which sports nutritionists consider reliably effective and safe. If you’re worried it causes hair loss or kidney damage, don’t be: these are myths that have been debunked in reputable studies.

Creatine can have side effects like digestive upset, which is typically mild, temporary, and linked to higher doses.

It’s also safe for your wallet. Even with past shortages, creatine monohydrate tends to be the cheapest form, especially if you buy it pure instead of mixed into complicated pre- or post-workout blends.

To take creatine, researchers typically recommend a dose of between 3 to 5 grams a day (people with larger bodies need more). However, emerging studies suggest the brain can benefit from higher doses. Scott Forbes, a sports science researcher and professor at Brandon University, said he recommends around 10 grams a day for cognitive health.

Still, despite all the potential benefits of creatine, it’s not a panacea. No supplement, no matter how well-researched, can match the benefits of healthy lifestyle factors such as nutrition, sleep, and consistent exercise. Trainers recommend starting with high-value habits such as these first before trying supplements.

Once you’re nailing your workouts, diet, and recovery, creatine may be just the thing to give your routine an extra edge.




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Here’s what Wall Street bank CEOs are saying about head count in the age of AI

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Jamie Dimon has stuck to his trademark bluntness when talking about AI and jobs.

“It will eliminate jobs,” Dimon said at a Fortune conference in December. “People should stop sticking their heads in the sand.”

In the near term, Dimon said in an interview with CNN that JPMorgan’s head count remains steady, or even rises, as AI continues to roll out — if the bank does a “good job.”

The bigger promise is efficiency. “It will affect every job,” Dimon said at a 2024 Alliance Bernstein conference, describing a future where AI handles tasks like note-taking and summarization at the push of a button.

That efficiency could still mean more hiring in areas like cybersecurity, where Dimon says banks will need AI to counter increasingly sophisticated fraud.

CFO Jeremy Barnum said during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call on Tuesday that the bank is allowing for some additional hiring in technology “at the margin.”

On that same call, however, Barnum said that, generally speaking, they “want to make sure that when someone needs to get something done, whether it’s in technology or elsewhere, their first reaction is not, ‘Hire more people.'”

He has previously said JPMorgan is asking people to “resist head count growth where possible” and focus instead on efficiency.

The head of JPMorgan’s consumer business, Marianne Lake, has said operations staff could be 40% to 50% more productive over the next five years — a shift she said would lead to slower net head count growth, as each employee can handle far more work through automation, digital assistants, and self-service tools.




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