Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, addressed the Economic Club of Chicago Wednesday, returning to the city that helped create what would become the nation’s largest bank – and its most influential banker.
On the day the annual inflation rate jumped to 3.7%, Dimon discussed the “uncertainty” of the current environment, covering topics such as the country’s debt, the wars in Ukraine and Iran, the threats from AI and the shifting of “tectonic plates” on the world geopolitical stage.
But perhaps the most earthshaking declaration in a room full of Chicago power brokers hit a little closer to home.
“I actually prefer Chicago than New York,” Dimon said, eliciting cheers from the audience. “My family loved it here. We loved the hospitality and the restaurants.”
It was a homecoming of sorts for Dimon, 70, a star New York banker and consummate dealmaker who moved to Chicago in 2000 to helm struggling Bank One, formerly the First National Bank of Chicago. Dimon turned around the bank’s fortunes and then engineered its 2004 acquisition by New York-based JPMorgan Chase.
Dimon was named president of the combined bank and was elevated to CEO in 2006.
While the headquarters shifted to New York, Dimon lived in Chicago until 2007 so his two daughters could finish high school. Then he moved back east, opportunistically positioning JPMorgan Chase during the Great Recession to become the nation’s largest bank.
On Thursday morning, Dimon visited Chase Tower, the curving 60-story skyscraper in the heart of the Loop, which is undergoing an $800 million multiyear renovation as the bank doubles down on the city, and its deep Chicago roots.
“It’s a long-term investment, and I think it’s a symbol of what we have always done,” Dimon said during an interview from a renovated conference room on the 57th floor overlooking the city, skyline and the lake. “We invest (for) the long term in Bank One and JPMorgan Chase and people, systems, tech, ops, real estate.”
More Top Picks Baby Strollers
In 2024, the bank announced that the 57-year-old, steel-and-concrete tower at 10 S. Dearborn St. would be transformed with improvements including a new fitness center, an updated food hall, a refreshed outdoor plaza, a newly expanded lobby and employee lounge, among other amenities.
The renovation is expected to be completed in late 2027.
Chase has about 15,000 employees in the Chicago area, including 7,200 who are based out of Chase Tower. Employees have been required to be in the office five days a week since late 2025, a move driven by Dimon himself, who once occupied an office on the ninth floor.
“I’m not against work from home,” Dimon said. “I’m against work from home when it doesn’t work for the company.”
Investing $800 million into renovating Chase Tower and providing employees with state-of-the-art amenities is a way to make the return to office feel more like an incentive, but Dimon is unapologetic about the mandate.
Dimon said younger employees, in particular, benefit the most from being in the office every day, learning the ropes from experienced co-workers and being immersed in the socialization of corporate culture.
Remote work, he said, is “cumulatively bad” for the company.
“Over time, we see it’s just the decay in relationships, the decay in speed, the decay in innovation, the decay with young people is enormous,” Dimon said.
During his address to the Economic Club, Dimon spoke at length about the uncertainty facing not only the U.S. economy, but the world order at large, pointing to the wars in Ukraine and Iran, inflation and the record U.S. debt as exacerbating the risks to economic and geopolitical stability.
He also said it is in the best long-term interest of the U.S. to support our Western allies in the brave new world we face.
“I think helping Europe is America first,” Dimon told the Economic Club.
On Thursday, Dimon said “there is no replacement” for the U.S. on the world stage, as long as we “don’t misuse our power.” He also reiterated the geopolitical risks at hand, but said the world is holding up pretty well, all things considered.
“The world seems to be a lot more resilient,” Dimon said. “It’s a bigger world economy. There’s lots of global trade. People are able to make a lot of adjustments very quick.”
With $5 trillion in assets under management worldwide, JPMorgan Chase plays a significant commercial role in helping companies and countries navigate an uncertain economic environment. But the bank also invests about $500 million annually in “smart philanthropy” as a catalyst for economic development in underserved communities.
In Chicago, for example, JPMorgan Chase has made $214 million in philanthropic investments over the past decade, funding everything from affordable housing to workforce training.
“If all you are doing is subsidizing stuff, particularly subsidizing stuff that the government should have done better, you aren’t actually helping the situation,” Dimon said. “If you are planting a seed that grows into a tree, then you are helping the situation.”
With thousands of employees filtering into the renovated Chase Tower in downtown Chicago every day, the seed Dimon planted at a struggling Bank One more than two decades ago has certainly taken root.