JPMorgan to buy share-plan software company

Global Shares, which will be integrated into the bank's asset and wealth management arm, has almost $200 billion in assets under administration and roughly 600 corporate clients.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. agreed Tuesday to buy Global Shares, a provider of cloud-based software for managing employee share plans, as the biggest U.S. bank scoops up firms to fend off competition.

Global Shares will be integrated into JPMorgan’s asset and wealth management arm, run by Mary Erdoes, the bank said in a statement Tuesday. The Cork, Ireland-based software firm has almost $200 billion in assets under administration, more than 650,000 employee participants and roughly 600 corporate clients. Terms of the transaction weren’t disclosed.

The acquisition will expand JPMorgan’s ability to provide “new, innovative capabilities to private and public companies” and help their employees manage wealth, Erdoes said in the statement.

JPMorgan has been on a buying spree: 2021 was its most active year for purchasing and taking stakes in smaller firms since at least the financial crisis. Chief Executive Jamie Dimon has described a landscape full of competitive threats, and he has vowed to spend whatever it takes to stay ahead. That point was punctuated in January when the firm’s executives told investors they expect expenses to jump this year.

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“Over the last few years, just really across the firm, Jamie’s had us very focused on expanding the services that we’ve been providing to clients and continuing to strengthen our franchises,” Mike Camacho, JPMorgan’s head of wealth management solutions, said in an interview. “When these opportunities come across, the firm really wants to make sure that we pursue them quite aggressively.”

In addition to Ireland, Global Shares operates in 16 locations across North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region.

Its JPMorgan deal started to come together as Global Shares was embarking on a fundraising round last year, with Erdoes and other JPMorgan executives going to Ireland to hammer out the details, according to Camacho and Global Shares CEO Tim Houstoun.

“The largest market for our product is in the U.S., and with JPMorgan’s brand and network we expect to significantly expand penetration,” Houstoun said in an interview.

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