JPMORGAN: We love the business that is hurting the rest of Wall Street
FICC revenues at the ten biggest banks were down 9% for the first nine months of the year. Credit trading desks have had a tough time in particular.
Listening to Daniel Pinto, chief executive of JPMorgan's giant corporate and investment bank, you wouldn't think things were going so badly, however.
"I think that, in my view, the key of success in fixed income is scale," Pinto said at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Banking and Financial Services Conference on Tuesday. "It's a relatively expensive business to run and if you have scale, you can make it profitable."
He also highlighted the importance of diversification in fixed income, noting that the businesses which had suffered most in previous years, like rates, were now doing well, while businesses that performed in previous years are now struggling.
"In our case, I love the business," he concluded. "We are doing fine now. We are seeing the bottoming of the revenues from that busines and in the years to come we'll probably see some upside."