{"id":227250,"date":"2026-01-08T12:59:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T12:59:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/227250\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T12:59:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T12:59:07","slug":"jpmorgan-eliminates-an-entire-job-thanks-to-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/227250\/","title":{"rendered":"JPMorgan eliminates an entire job thanks to AI"},"content":{"rendered":"

So far, we\u2019ve heard quite a lot about how different classes of investment banking jobs might be replaced by artificial intelligence, but there\u2019s not been much evidence of this actually happening.\u00a0 That was, until yesterday, when JPMorgan Asset Management<\/a> announced that they would no longer be using the services of \u201cproxy advisors\u201d, but would instead make decisions about how to vote their shares at board meetings using an \u201cinternal AI tool\u201d.<\/p>\n

Get Morning Coffee\u00a0<\/a>\u2615\u00a0in your inbox. Sign up here.<\/a><\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t likely to mean immediate job cuts, as the proxy advisors in question are external companies who sell their corporate governance opinions to investors.\u00a0 But if you are working in that particular specialized field, you might reasonably be very worried indeed that a major client has decided that what you do can be replaced by the computer.<\/p>\n

The trouble that proxy services have always had is that shareholder votes are almost always either \u201cbasically inconsequential\u201d or \u201cvery consequential indeed\u201d, with the vast majority falling into the former category.\u00a0 And so investors either don\u2019t really value advice on what to do with them, or they will want to take the decision themselves.\u00a0 It\u2019s very hard to add value.<\/p>\n

So why did the services exist in the first place?\u00a0 To a large extent, they performed the useful function of an \u201caccountability sink<\/a>\u201d \u2013 someone external to blame a decision on.\u00a0 If institutional investors vote against the board, that can complicate their relationships with companies.\u00a0 But if they always vote in favour of the board, that can cause problems with other stakeholders.\u00a0 The advisory services allowed them to get rid of this irksome responsibility and get on with the real job of investing, saving their brainpower for the very occasional proxy votes which could make a difference.<\/p>\n

And it turns out that one thing that AI algorithms are good at is taking the blame. If a decision is delegated to the computer, nobody can criticise you for being too woke<\/a>, or for anything else<\/a>.\u00a0 So it\u2019s quite possible that a niche but not insignificant financial career might be heading toward technological obsolescence.<\/p>\n

Of course, there are not very many industries similar to proxy advisory, so there is not necessarily much read-through to investment banking as a whole.\u00a0 But this ought to be a wake-up call nonetheless for everyone in finance to ask themselves whether they are really adding value, or just doing a necessary job that nobody else can be bothered with.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, there was no phoenix-from-the-flames recovery for hedge fund Eisler Capital<\/a>, which sent out its last investor letter for December detailing a 7.35% loss for the month and taking the 2025 FY result to a decline of 14.3%.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Apparently \u201cnearly all\u201d of the losses were nothing to do with actual investment performance, which makes sense since this was the month in which the fund was finally fully run down and wound up.\u00a0 They were instead attributable to \u201cpass through\u201d<\/a> expenses, which are charged to investors under the standard multistrategy<\/a> fund fee structure.<\/p>\n

Eisler may have received a double whammy in December with losses driven higher in percentage terms by exit costs on one hand, and by the reduced size of the portfolio on the other.\u00a0 Even so, it does look like one of the drivers of its failure was staff costs running out of control, creating a drag on investment returns which ended up turning into a self-defeating spiral.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s partly a cautionary tale about the way in which the \u201cpod shop talent war<\/a>\u201d has made the multistrategy space unviable for all but the very biggest players.\u00a0 But if Eisler had been generating good returns in the first place, it would have been able to cover the expenses.\u00a0 So this is really a lesson in Warren Buffett\u2019s two golden rules of investing.\u00a0 Rule One, don\u2019t lose money.\u00a0 And Rule Two, never forget rule one.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile\u2026<\/p>\n

India has been a very hot market for a couple of years now, but it\u2019s also incredibly competitive.\u00a0 In a recent IPO, fees were being quoted as 0.01% of the transaction value, causing JPMorgan and Citi to decide it wasn\u2019t worth participating.\u00a0 Something to remember at league table time. (Bloomberg<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Harriet Tyce, the wife of Nomura\u2019s head of global markets<\/a>, is doing very well out of her appearance on The Traitors; her book sales have almost doubled. (The Bookseller<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Once upon a time this was a trophy asset, but Goldman Sachs will most likely be pleased to get rid of the Apple credit card business, and JPMorgan are likely to treat it as a normal third-party relationship rather than an exciting future direction.\u00a0 (Bloomberg<\/a>)<\/p>\n

And as Goldman shuts the curtains on its brief retail financial services adventure, it confirms its leadership in the core business, ending another year at the top of the global M&A league table. (Reuters<\/a>)<\/p>\n

A somewhat curious-looking case, in which a second year analyst brought a discrimination case against JPMorgan for an amount (\u00a358,000) much smaller than the usual level of banking employment cases.\u00a0 The lawsuit has been dismissed, in what was apparently a pretty short judgement, after JPMorgan testified that the plaintiff had been cherry-picking examples and wasn\u2019t actually paid any less than equivalent male employees. (Bloomberg<\/a>)<\/p>\n

When it comes to messy arguments about departing employees, banking has nothing on luxury retail.\u00a0Check out this story of litigation, alleged retaliation and alleged \u201creturns fraud\u201d, all over the departure from Saks Fifth Avenue of one of its highest-performing personal shoppers. (WSJ<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Have a confidential story, tip, or comment you\u2019d like to share?\u00a0Contact: +44\u00a07537 182250 (SMS, Whatsapp or voicemail).\u00a0Telegram: @SarahButcher. Signal: sarahbutcher.22 \u00a0Click here to fill in our anonymous form<\/a>, or email editortips@efinancialcareers.com.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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