JP Morgan Chase 2013 Annual Report Download - page 37

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flow of financial transactions. We
have invested heavily in improving
our overall cyber defenses and
dramatically improved our ability
to withstand these attacks. However,
as the threats continue to grow and
attacks continue to evolve, it’s crucial
that we evolve as well and focus
on tomorrow’s threats, as well as
today’s. To that end, we’ve nearly
doubled our investment in cyber-
security, including deployment of
increased monitoring and protection
technology, and we’ve expanded the
number of dedicated cybersecurity
professionals in the company to
focus on protecting our customers
and our sta.
Last year, we kicked o an eort to
develop multi-year technology plans
for our businesses and corporate
functions that reflect the firm’s top
priorities and business requirements.
These “road maps” will enable us to
manage the firm’s technology invest-
ments against the backdrop of a
strategic plan, which we’ll continue
to revisit and refine.
As we look to 2014, our reliance on
technology will continue to expand.
We will spend close to $250 million
on our cyber capabilities. IT will be
at the core of what we need to do to
adapt to the new global financial
architecture and to meet regulatory
requirements, including AML,
Comprehensive Capital Analysis and
Review (CCAR), Volcker and Dodd-
Frank, among others. We will lever-
age our internal cloud platforms to
further improve the eciency and
time to market for our IT infrastruc-
ture. Each of our business lines has a
robust set of strategic initiatives.
Whether it is upgrading our next-
generation digital and mobile
programs, enhancing our Asset
Management Solutions business,
improving our e-trading platforms,
enabling growth in Commercial
Banking or making our corporate
functions more eective, technology
is core to the delivery.
Conclusion
Not every organization has the lead-
ership team, the talent and the forti-
tude to make this level of investment
for the future. We feel privileged to
be able to do so on behalf of our
clients, our customers and our share-
holders. I could not be more proud
of our employees and our accom-
plishments to date. 2014 is another
important year for us, and I am
confident that we will continue to
deliver at the level you expect of us
– holding ourselves, our business
practices and our culture to the
highest standards.
Innovation is happening across
our business lines every day. Our
Consumer Branch of the Future is
powered by IT innovation. Our
recently completed Strategic
Reengineering Program in the CIB
has improved eciency by hun-
dreds of millions of dollars. IT is
improving not only the speed and
scale of our credit card authoriza-
tions but has enhanced our fraud
protection capabilities and is the
engine behind new, innovative
products, including BlueprintTM.
Each year, we invest hundreds of mil-
lions of dollars in our risk and con-
trols technology agenda. A sizable
part of this investment is dedicated
to ensuring that we have the systems
to identify problems – whether these
problems have to do with AML risk,
fraud risk or something else – on a
real-time basis. A core objective of
our technology strategy is to reduce
variability and increase consistency
and standardization. As such, one of
our most important goals is to lessen
our reliance on manual controls,
which are more susceptible to human
error. We also are seeking to substan-
tially reduce subjectivity to allow for a
more consistent and predictable way
to identify control gaps in the envi-
ronment. Systems enhancements,
including information technology and
data architecture, are critical to the
broad management of financial risks.
Our technology environment contin-
ues to be tested. In the past two
years, we have faced unprecedented
cyber threats from sophisticated
adversaries bent on wreaking havoc
in the financial industry. Two years
ago, we saw a rise in “denial of ser-
vice” attacks aimed at disrupting the
Matt Zames
Chief Operating Ocer