JPMorgan invests heavily into IT

JPMorgan is making huge investments in IT and has hired a clutch of quants with PhDs to create algorithmic models that speed up trading.

BusinessWeek says the bank is also pumping $3bn into overhauling its network and reducing 90 global data centers to 30 by 2008.

With a $1bn annual budget for technology, the bank has become one of the biggest spenders on technology in investment banking. Technologists in investment banks are now highly recognized as complementing bankers and traders as a source of profits.