JPMorgan Expands in Dubai, Eyes More Business With Mid-Cap Firms

In an effort to do more business with medium-sized companies, JPMorgan JPM is expanding in Dubai, as reported by Reuters. The move by JPM comes at a time when various global financial firms are launching operations in the Middle East to access oil wealth and take advantage of the region’s growing markets.

As part of this move, JPMorgan has shifted Tushar Arora, a banker who has been with the U.S. lender for more than 10 years, from London to Dubai, to lead the new team focused on venture capital-backed midcap companies.

JPMorgan’s Dubai expansion is part of a broader global strategy as targeting mid-cap companies will open up an additional revenue stream for the U.S. lender beyond its traditional focus on large blue-chip corporates. Recently, JPM dedicated more resources for the coverage of midcaps in Austria and Poland. Also, the bank is considering a similar mid-cap expansion in Turkey.

Stefan Povaly, the co-head of JPM’s corporate banking for EMEA, said, “There's a global focus on doing more in the midcap space. The Middle East is of course a priority ... This is the first step for an expansion into the midcap space.”

By expanding in Dubai, JPM is giving competition to its close peer Citigroup C, which already has a long-standing presence in the UAE. Alex Stiris, the head of Citigroup’s commercial banking in EMEA, said, “We have seen more competition come into the UAE. Obviously, the more competition, the more we have to be on our tiptoes. So it worries me to some extent.” Notably, last month, Citigroup opened its new regional headquarters at Kingdom Tower in Riyadh, marking a major step in its regional expansion strategy.

JPMorgan’s Price Performance & Zacks Rank

Over the past six months, shares of JPM have gained 12.7% compared with the industry’s growth of 15.9%.

Currently, JPMorgan carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

A better-ranked stock from the same space is Morgan Stanley MS, which currently sports a Zacks Rank of 1. Shares of MS have gained 23.8% in the past six months. Earnings estimates for Morgan Stanley for the current year have been revised higher over the past 30 days.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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