JP Morgan Chase 2012 Annual Report Download - page 26

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for $28 billion. J.P. Morgan was the first call
3G and Berkshire made to secure the neces-
sary financing, knowing we had the where-
withal to quickly commit to a $12 billion
debt transaction. A few months earlier, J.P.
Morgan stepped up for Freeport-McMoRan
Copper & Gold Inc. As the sole under-
writer of a $9.5 billion financing, Freeport-
McMoRan was able to launch its proposed
acquisition of Plains Exploration & Produc-
tion Company and of McMoRan Exploration
Co., two complementary transactions totaling
$20 billion. The acquisitions add oil and gas
businesses to Freeport-McMoRan’s global
mining portfolio.
We enable major companies to accomplish
their strategic objectives. Not many banks
can undertake these types of large and
complex transactions.
We invest for the long run, and we manage risk
accordingly
JPMorgan Chase plays the long game, and
we are not a fair weather friend. Clients,
communities and countries want to know
that we are going to be there particularly
when times are tough. It is easy for critics to
blame a bank for taking certain risks after
the results are known. It is much harder to
make those decisions before the outcomes
are revealed.
In the height of the financial crisis in 2008,
we completed several major syndicated
leveraged finance loans, and, in one critical
instance, we bought the entire $1.4 billion
bond issue from the state of Illinois when
no one else would bid for it, giving Illinois
the financing for payroll and other impor-
tant needs. We also committed $4 billion to
California and $2 billion to New Jersey when
others were not able to do so.
Europe is another example of where we
apply this philosophy. When Greece, Ireland,
Italy, Portugal and Spain got into trouble,
we made the decision to stay the course.
We have described to our shareholders that
under terrible scenarios, we could lose $5
billion or more. But we have been doing
business with those clients and in those
countries, in some cases, for more than a
hundred years. We need to help them in
their time of trouble – and we can. We hope
to be doing business in those countries for
decades to come.
JPMORGAN CHASE IS THE LARGEST BANK TO SMALL AND
REGIONAL BANKS IN AMERICA
In the ongoing national dialogue about banks, some have tried to pit large global banks such as JPMorgan
Chase against community and regional banks — as if the success of one comes at the expense of the other.
That simply is false. There is both room for and need for large global banks, as well as smaller banks. Just
as we have some unique capabilities — so do they. They are deeply embedded in their communities and are
knowledgeable about their local consumers and small businesses.
We are proud to be the largest banker in America to community and regional banks. We help them
raise equity in the capital markets, advise on merger and acquisition deals, and provide credit and cash
management services to more than 800 bank clients. Since the start of the financial crisis in September 2008
through the end of 2012, we have raised $22.8 billion in equity, $43.6 billion in debt and advised on $37.2
billion in merger and acquisition deals for community and regional banks. And when smaller banks couldn’t
get funding during the financial crisis so they could lend to their clients, we were there for them — perhaps
more than any other bank.