Primary dealers going full sandbox

JPMorgan Is Now Giving Its Coders Licenses To Deal In Equities

The line between coders and traders at investment banks is starting to blur even further.
And leading the charge is JP Morgan, whose coders have now obtained licenses to deal in equities, according to Bloomberg.

The bank got regulatory approvals this month for two of its coders in London and New York to trade cash equities. JP Morgan is targeting eight more licenses for coders, globally, by the end of the year.


Jason Sippel, the bank’s head of global equities, said: “This is about convergence of the trader and quant. It’s moving at warp speed and re-inventing what the trading floor looks like.”
The move comes at a time when the largest investment banks have shelled out billions to automate trading while competition heats up. JP Morgan plans to deploy more than $11 billion just on technology initiatives alone this year. CEO Jamie Dimon has said that keeping up with technology is "critical" to the bank's mission of gaining market share.

As such, JP Morgan is placing even more faith into its quants.

A little late but not too bad for JPM the leader. Nice work, Jaime. Your coders read my blog.