JPMorgan Chase

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Lore & Background

JPMorgan Chase was created in 2000 by the merger of two New York City banks: J.P. Morgan & Co. and Chase Manhattan Company. Its oldest predecessor, the Bank of the Manhattan Company, was established on September 1, 1799, by Aaron Burr, who obtained a bank charter by sneaking a clause into a water company charter. J.P. Morgan & Co. was founded in 1871 by financier J. P. Morgan, launching the House of Morgan on 23 Wall Street. The firm's history also includes Chemical Bank, which acquired Chase Manhattan in 1996 and retained the Chase name, and later merged with J.P. Morgan & Co. in 2000. In 2004, JPMorgan Chase acquired Chicago-based Bank One Corp., bringing on board current chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon as president and COO. The company's oldest predecessor institution, The Bank of the Manhattan Company, was established on September 1, 1799, by Aaron Burr. According to John Steele Gordon's *An Empire of Wealth*, Burr created the bank by sneaking a clause into a charter for a company called The Manhattan Company to provide clean water to New York City, allowing the company to invest surplus capital in any lawful enterprise. Within six months, long before laying a single section of water pipe, the company opened a bank. Led by David Rockefeller during the 1970s and 1980s, Chase Manhattan emerged as one of the largest and most prestigious banks, with leadership positions in syndicated lending, treasury and securities services, credit cards, mortgages, and retail financial services. Weakened by the real estate collapse in the early 1990s, it was acquired by Chemical Bank in 1996, retaining the Chase name. Before its merger with J.P. Morgan & Co., the new Chase expanded through two acquisitions: in 1999, it acquired San Francisco–based Hambrecht & Quist for $1.35 billion, and in April 2000, UK-based Robert Fleming & Co. was purchased for $7.7 billion.

Reader's Guide

JPMorgan Chase is significant as the largest bank in the United States and the world's largest by market capitalization as of 2026, with $4 trillion in assets. It operates the largest investment bank globally by revenue and is a major provider of investment banking, private banking, asset management, and retail banking through the Chase brand. The firm is considered systemically important by the Financial Stability Board, leading to enhanced regulatory oversight and the development of an internal 'Fortress Balance Sheet.' Its size and scale have also attracted routine criticism regarding risk management, broad financing activities, and large-scale legal settlements. The company's legacy is rooted in a series of mergers combining historic institutions such as Chase Manhattan Bank, J.P. Morgan & Co., Bank One, and asset assumptions of Bear Stearns, Washington Mutual, and First Republic. Predecessors also include Chemical Bank, Manufacturers Hanover, First Chicago Bank, National Bank of Detroit, Texas Commerce Bank, Providian Financial, and Great Western Bank. The firm occupies the 11th spot on the Fortune 500 list of the largest U.S. corporations by revenue. In 2026, JPMorgan Chase was ranked #1 in the Forbes Global 2000 ranking for the fourth consecutive year. The House of Morgan was born out of the partnership of Drexel, Morgan & Co., which in 1895 was renamed J.P. Morgan & Co. J.P. Morgan & Co. financed the formation of the United States Steel Corporation, the world's first billion dollar corporation. In 1895, it supplied the U.S. government with $62 million in gold to float a bond issue and restore the treasury surplus of $100 million. In 1935, after being barred from the securities business, the heads of J.P. Morgan spun off its investment-banking operations, founding Morgan Stanley on September 16, 1935, with $6.6 million of nonvoting preferred stock from J.P. Morgan partners.

Did You Know?

• The Bank of the Manhattan Company, JPMorgan Chase's oldest predecessor, was established on September 1, 1799, by Aaron Burr, who sneaked a banking clause into a water company charter.
• J.P. Morgan & Co. financed the formation of the United States Steel Corporation, the world's first billion dollar corporation.
• On September 16, 1920, a terrorist bomb exploded in front of 23 Wall Street, J.P. Morgan's headquarters, injuring 400 and killing 38; the case has never been solved.
• In 1935, J.P. Morgan partners spun off Morgan Stanley with $6.6 million of nonvoting preferred stock.
• Chemical Bank acquired Chase Manhattan in 1996, but retained the better-known Chase name; JPMorgan Chase still uses Chemical's pre-1996 stock price history.