Junior bankers who accept a job offer within the first 18 months of joining the firm might face consequences, Dimon hinted. A leaked letter to newly recruited JPMorgan analysts, posted on the Instagram account Litquidity, warns the junior bankers that if they already have a lucrative gig lined up elsewhere, they will be booted out of the bank, reports New York Post.
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Jamie Dimon’s warning to bankers
An email sent by Filippo Gori and John Simmons, co-heads of global banking at America’s largest bank, welcomed new grads starting this summer with a stern warning: “If you accept a position with another company before joining us or within your first 18 months, you will be provided notice and your employment with the firm will end.”
“To succeed in the investment banking analyst programme, your full attention and participation are essential,” the missive from the two senior executives continued.
The message was clear: joining the financial giant requires your full focus and commitment. In a firm tone directed at junior employees, the memo emphasized that training sessions, meetings, and other obligations are mandatory. Missing any of these could result in termination.
According to Fortune, the email—warning new hires that they could be let go if they accepted another job offer—was sent only to U.S.-based recruits. This appears to reflect a uniquely American challenge, where candidates often secure future roles before starting a current one.
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Though the memo didn’t specify which firms were making these offers, the CEO of the $730 billion banking powerhouse has previously voiced strong disapproval of the trend.
“I know a lot of you work at JPMorgan, you take a job at a private equity shop before you even start with us,” Dimon told a crowd of undergraduate business school students in September 2024. “I’m going to say something a little different, okay, because I didn’t talk about character. The most important thing about people’s character, I think that’s unethical. I don’t like it.”
Of course, the statement and subsequent action risk ruffling feathers with PE, which accounts for a significant chunk of JPMorgan’s business.
The two men also write that “missing any part of the training programme” could also lead to termination and that “avoiding potential conflicts of interest is crucial to maintaining the trust and confidence our clients place in us.”
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However, Dimon argued that allowing junior analysts to gain experience at JPMorgan before moving on puts the bank at risk, as these employees might carry confidential information or proprietary insights with them.
“It puts us in a bad position, and it puts us in a conflicted position,” Dimon added. “You are already working for somewhere else, and you’re dealing with highly confidential information from JPMorgan, and I just don’t like it.”
“You are already working for somewhere else, and you’re dealing with highly confidential information from JPMorgan, and I just don’t like it.”
JPMorgan’s salary structure
Some younger financiers have criticized JPMorgan’s new policy as difficult to enforce, with a senior bank insider telling The Post that it would rely entirely on “trust.”
“JPMorgan is naïve to think this is either enforceable or sustainable,” a hedge fund analyst wrote on Wall Street Oasis, a forum frequented by American bankers. “Private firms are also misguided if they believe recruiting analysts before they even start is a viable long-term strategy.”
According to data from the same site, associates at private equity firms can earn up to $300,000 annually, with bonuses starting at a similar level.
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Meanwhile, Glassdoor—a recruiting and HR platform—shows associate bankers at JPMorgan earn between $197,000 and $289,000, excluding performance-based bonuses.
JPMorgan isn’t the only Wall Street giant grappling with poaching attempts from private equity firms.
Goldman Sachs recently had to counter a high-profile recruitment effort targeting one of its top executives. To retain Chief Operating Officer John Waldron, the David Solomon-led firm awarded him an $80 million “golden handcuffs” package earlier this year, along with a board seat.
Waldron had been courted by Marc Rowan’s Apollo Global Management for a major role. The retention bonus, which will fully vest over five years, is widely seen as an effort to keep the 55-year-old at Goldman—where he’s viewed as a likely successor to Solomon as CEO.
