JPMorgan's Dimon visits Taiwan to meet staff, clients -source
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[June 02, 2023] By
Selena Li and Kane Wu
(Reuters) -Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of U.S. bank JPMorgan Chase
& Co, is visiting Taiwan on Friday, a source with direct knowledge of
the matter said, his first trip to the island in a nearly a decade,
after concluding a visit to China this week.
Dimon's trip to Taipei, where JPMorgan has had a banking presence since
1970, comes amid heightened tension over the democratically-governed
island, which Beijing claims as its own territory. Taiwan strongly
rejects China's sovereignty claims.
But China, which bristles at visits to Taiwan by foreign government
officials, tends to ignore trips by business executives, who usually
keep clear of politics.
"The Chinese are much more concerned about U.S. government contacts with
Taiwan than they are with private firms and banks doing business," said
Andrew Collier, managing director at Orient Capital Research in Hong
Kong.
"As long as executives steer clear of political statements, they should
be able to pass the Chinese litmus tests."
Dimon will meet bank employees and clients in Taiwan on his visit, said
the source, who sought anonymity as the plans were not public, while
adding that no meetings were planned with Taiwan officials.
A JPMorgan spokesperson declined to comment.
Bloomberg first reported the development.
"This is not a question of foreign affairs," a spokesperson for China's
foreign ministry told media on Friday in response to news of the visit.
"China takes a consistent and clear stance on Taiwan issues."
As part of his Asia tour, Dimon will also visit South Korea after the
Taiwan trip, said the source.
JPMorgan has more than 500 employees in Taiwan, where it provides
corporate and investment banking and commercial banking services, as
well as managing public pension assets.
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Jamie Dimon, Chairman of the Board and
Chief Executive Officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co., gestures as he
speaks during an interview with Reuters in Miami, Florida, U.S.,
February 8, 2023. REUTERS/Marco Bello
The bank is the seventh-largest M&A adviser, eighth-largest equity
capital markets, and sixth-largest debt capital markets deal book
runner in Taiwan by total deal value in the last five years,
Refinitive data shows.
Trips to Taiwan by Wall Street officials are rare as they have a
limited business presence there, compared to the frequent visits by
U.S. tech executives as the island is a key producer of
semiconductors. Nvidia Corp's Chief Executive Jensen Huang visited
this week for a trade show, as did Intel Corp's Chief Executive Pat
Gelsinger last month.
Dimon's last publicly-known visit to Taipei was in 2014, when he met
then-president Ma Ying-jeou. But there was no plan for President
Tsai Ing-wen to meet Dimon, her office said on Friday.
An official of the island's Financial Supervisory Commission said
there were no plans for a meeting with Dimon.
Dimon, who has boosted the bank's presence in China in recent years,
met this week with Shanghai's Communist Party secretary Chen Jining,
who expects the bank to promote investment in the commercial hub.
Dimon favours East-West "derisking" rather than decoupling, he told
the three-day JPMorgan Global China Summit event in the city on
Wednesday. The United States and China need "real engagement" on
security and trade issues, he added.
(Reporting by Selena Li and Kane Wu in Hong Kong, Scott Murdoch in
Sydney, Ben Blanchard and Emily Chan in Taipei, Mrinmay Dey in
Bengaluru; Editing by Sumeet Chatterjee and Clarence Fernandez)
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