JPMorgan’s faith in Hong Kong as financial hub as strong as ever a century on, COO Daniel Pinto says

• The New York-based bank is betting that the city where it has been doing business for a century can recover when the economic cycle turns, and live up to its potential

• The company will continue to be invested in China, because for any company 'once you're out, it's very difficult to go back in,' says chief operating officer

JPMorgan will continue to invest in Hong Kong, betting that the city where it has been doing business for a century can recover when the economic cycle turns, and live up to its potential as the financial centre of the world's second largest economy.

"We will continue to do the business that we are doing and continue growing," said the bank's president and chief operating officer Daniel Pinto during an interview in Hong Kong. "We are not the type of company that is going to go fully in one day and fully out the other. These are [business] cycles, and we've been navigating cycle after cycle over time."

The New York-based bank began in Hong Kong in 1924 as the Equitable Eastern Banking Corporation. Together with its full range of banking, wealth management and brokerage businesses on the mainland, JPMorgan counts the China region as half of its Asia-wide business.

"China is the second biggest economy in the world and it will create opportunities, how fast or how slow those opportunities will present themselves is a matter of being prudent in that part of the cycle," said Pinto.

China's financial markets will develop even further over time, and JPMorgan and other international companies will play an important role in helping its financial systems continue to develop, he added.

The firm, which employs some 320,000 people worldwide, has been picking up talent at a time when most banks have been making cuts. Over 80,000 members of staff are based in its Asia offices.

Pinto declined to specify the bank's headcount in Hong Kong and on the mainland.

A steady US economy meant the company reported its best-ever annual profit and forecast higher-than-expected interest income for 2024, even as its quarterly profit fell.

But there is still room to grow, according to Pinto, because the bank's mainland business is clearly "disproportionate" to the size of mainland China's economy, he said, adding that Hong Kong will continue to be part of the growth.

"The potential for growth in China is significant, if it is possible to monetise," he said. "[Hong Kong's government] needs to maintain the environment to continue to be a global financial centre in the world and create an environment for foreign companies and local companies to continue to evolve."

JPMorgan has no plans to back out because of geopolitical tensions, according to Pinto.

"[Geopolitical] tensions go up and down, based on how much dialogue there is or there isn't. When Biden and Xi met in San Francisco and agreed on military dialogue and the importance of the commercial relationship between the countries then the tension went down," he said.

The company plans to continue to be strategically invested in China, because you cannot "ignore the second biggest economy in the world. Because for any company and in any industry, once you're out, it's very difficult to go back in," said Pinto.