By Chris Dorrell
JP Morgan has bolstered its ranks with a series of hires as it attempts to expand its offering to start-ups and high growth companies following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB).
The Wall Street giant has hired almost 20 new bankers to support fast growing businesses in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, including several new executives.
Some of the new hires are joining from SVB, such as Rosh Wijayarathna, who has been hired as a managing director for the UK and Ireland, and Folake Shasanya, who will be a managing director leading venture capital coordination in the region.
The hires will join JP Morgan’s innovation economy business, which sits inside its commercial banking division. The majority will be based in London.
It comes as part of push into the sector in the wake of SVB’s collapse. SVB catered specifically to startups and tech companies. Its collapse earlier in March left many firms in the sector without their normal bank.
Earlier this week the bank hired John China, who had been at SVB for 27 years, to be co-head of the bank’s ‘innovation economy’ team.
China will lead the expansion of the team globally alongside Melissa Smith, who has been in place for five years.
“We want to be the leading bank for venture-capital backed companies with high-growth potential in industries like disruptive commerce, technology, life sciences, healthcare IT and climate tech,” Andrew Kresse, head of corporate client banking international, said.
