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Jamie Dimon has raised the prospect of JPMorgan Chase spending up to $20bn on an acquisition, as the bank looks to deploy tens of billions in extra capital freed up by the Trump administration’s lighter approach to banking regulation.
“I do think there might be, in the next couple years, a chance to put $10 or $20bn to work buying something,” Dimon told an industry conference on Wednesday. “And when we do that, we’ll explain to you why we think it’s a great purchase.”
Dimon cautioned that “prices are high, including JPMorgan stock”. “We’re quite patient with capital. It’s not burning a hole in our pocket at all,” Dimon said.
Dimon helped grow JPMorgan into the largest US bank by assets with a market value of more than $800bn in part through opportunistic acquisitions including Bear Stearns, Washington Mutual and First Republic.
In recent years, however, he has pursued a strategy of smaller deals that are easily absorbed into the banking giant.
Dimon did not specify what sort of company the bank would look to buy. JPMorgan is prohibited by US law from purchasing another deposit-taking bank since it already has over 10 per cent of the country’s deposits.
However, it was able to get an exemption to that rule when it bought First Republic three years ago in a government-run auction after the bank failed.
Dimon said JPMorgan will have $40-$50bn in excess capital above what is required by regulators. The largest US banks spent a record $33bn on share buybacks at the start of 2026. The Trump White House has pursued the most deregulatory policy for Wall Street since the 2008 financial crisis and shown a more lax approach to antitrust issues.
Dimon also said JPMorgan’s investment banking fees were tracking to be up about 10 per cent in the second quarter from a year ago while trading is tracking to be up at least 11 per cent.
“It’s gung ho, folks,” Dimon said. “M&A is like the best year we’ve had in I’ve forgotten how many years. [Equity Capital Markets] is going to be huge this year.” He added there was “a lot of exuberance out there”.
He also said the bank’s expenses in 2026 would be about $1bn more than the $105bn in its previous guidance.
“We think it’ll be closer to $106bn, mostly driven by better performance, so it’s a good extra $1bn,” Dimon said.
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