JPMorgan recruits more employees for Asia Pacific units

JPMorgan Chase & Co. starts additional hiring to build teams that will be in charge of card transactions and other commercial payments. The company is recruiting employees for key Asian markets, citing the e-commerce boom.

This year, the American investment bank expanded its acquiring solution to Australia, India, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and New Zealand. As reported by Max Neukirchen, the firm’s global head of payments & commerce solutions, such payment services will also be available in its Hong Kong unit by the end of 2022. 

He announced that the bank was planning to ramp up hiring. 

JP Morgan Payments combines corporate treasury services, trade finance, card and merchant services providing clients from all over the world with an integrated payments experience. As e-commerce is becoming more popular in Asia and many small business owners are still waiting to go digital, such firms could be potential customers of banks and fintech companies. 

According to Neukirchen, India is considered one of the markets with the highest growth potential. The importance of the Indian market is derived from its size and the fact that residents are switching from cash to electronic payment methods. Japan is also attractive for the bank as the Japanese e-commerce market is growing. Australia differs from other markets as credit card payments there are common. Singapore and Hong Kong are "key hubs" in the Asia Pacific.

In China, where WeChat and AliPay have accelerated the cashless transformation, the bank is teaming with a local firm. Neukirchen says licensing procedures in China have become more difficult. The bank is giving priority to seven new markets now, but it doesn't rule out the possibility of opening a unit there in the long term.