JPMorgan's Fall and Revival

How the Wave of Consolidation Changed America's Premier Bank

By: Nicholas P. Sargen

Narrated by: Steve Menasche

This book tells the untold story of how JPMorgan became a universal bank in the 1980s-1990s and the events leading to it being acquired by Chase in 2000. It depicts the challenges Morgan's leaders, Lew Preston and Dennis Weatherstone, confronted when the firm's business model was disrupted by the developing country debt crisis, up to its current management with Jamie Dimon. 

This firsthand account explores whether Morgan could have stayed independent had its leaders pursued the strategic plan that called for it to make targeted acquisitions in areas where it had well-established businesses. Instead, in the mid-1990s, it went from being the hunter to the hunted. Rival banks that had been burdened by bad loans to developing countries and commercial real estate capitalized on rising share prices during the tech boom to acquire other institutions. Meanwhile, Morgan's profits and share price lagged, which left it vulnerable. 

During this time, all of the leading financial institutions struggled to change their business models. In the end, no US money center bank was able to become a universal bank on its own. What ensued was a growing concentration of financial assets in a handful of institutions that was the precursor to the 2008 financial crisis, which is explored further using Morgan as a lens, in this must-listen book.

©2020 Nicholas P. Sargen (P)2020 Gildan Media

A lot of history I didn't know ...

A bit dry at times ... some new information ... but not too much ... covered the history of Chase and banking.

Well-thought and expressed history

As a personal memoir, it didn't do much for me. But it put this author, a good chronicler of the events, in a fairly good position to pull all this together. He is a natural writer, having suitably been in a more wonky and word-and-report-generating end of this business. It moves from nuts and bolts inside Morgan (illustrated, I think suitably, with various leadership personalities) to broader contexts of the competitive and regulatory landscape. I was disappointed that some of the larger events were retold (often in quotes) from books I had already read, by Charles Ellis, Roger Lowenstein, etc. But this is not a big gripe. At the end the author got to critiquing Morgan a bit more, which I found effective (after being, I thought, a bit too courteous sometimes earlier). The overall effect, if sometimes a bit collegial and thus sheathed, gives, i think, a pretty balanced account. As a run-through of US big banking history from the late 70s through the early 2000s, it works nicely. It sort of picks up from Chernow's House of Morgan and updates the story. Here we are, post-GFC, and I'm ready for another update already!