JPMorgan Chase has appointed Sri Shivananda, a former PayPal executive, as its new chief technology officer (CTO) to lead the deployment of its $17 billion tech budget. Shivananda will be replacing A.J. Lang, who announced his retirement earlier this year. He will report directly to Lori Beer, the bank’s global chief information officer (CIO) and a member of the operating committee.
Beer stated that Shivananda’s experience in driving business growth and innovation will be crucial in helping JPMorgan tackle complex technological challenges. In addition to Shivananda, the bank recently hired two senior leaders from Amazon – Manoj Sindhwani and Darrin Alves – to focus on data and analytics platforms and infrastructure platforms, respectively.
With technology workers making up 20% of the bank’s almost 312,000 global workforce, there is a strong emphasis on implementing AI to add value to the bank. According to executives, utilizing AI could potentially add between $1 billion to $1.5 billion in value. The bank’s CFO, Jeremy Barnum, highlighted the importance of improving the efficiency of software engineering and physical infrastructure to get maximum productivity out of tech spending while also attracting top talent.
JPMorgan faces stiff competition in recruiting tech workers, with CEO Jamie Dimon emphasizing the need to compete with the best in AI and technology during a recent event in May. The bank is actively investing in technology and talent to maintain its competitive edge in the rapidly evolving financial services industry.
