JPMorgan to hire 100 as part of Middle East expansion

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is planning to add more than 100 staffers to its businesses across the Middle East in the coming years, joining a raft of Wall Street lenders looking to expand in the fast-growing region. 

With the hires, the bank’s headcount in the region would reach about 500, up from 370 now, according to Mary Callahan Erdoes, chief executive officer of the firm’s asset and wealth management business.

The bank had just 100 employees in the region immediately following the financial crisis. 

“It is a very exciting time for everybody to be thinking about this,” Erdoes said at the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha.

“You can feel it when you’re here live and in person.”

Wall Street banks have been rapidly expanding across the Middle East, where many countries are undergoing multi-billion-dollar investment programmes in order to remake their economies.

JPMorgan has been serving clients in the Middle East for more than 100 years, according to its website, and the firm has offices in cities across the region including Abu Dhabi, Doha, Dubai and Riyadh.

In 2026, about 700 of the firm’s top employees will do a kick-off event for the year in Doha, according to Erdoes. 

The government of the State of Qatar is the underwriter of the Qatar Economic Forum, powered by Bloomberg.