JPMorgan's got a new way of retaining its top young technologists

Young technologists don't always want to stick around at JPMorgan, or indeed at any other investment bank. But as technology firms like Facebook fall out of favour, banks have more to recommend them. Both JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs are increasing their technology spending at a rate of around 14% a year. Both are hiring more technologists. And both are trying hard to keep hold of them. Now JPMorgan is wooing its existing staff with additional qualifications.

The U.S. investment bank has just launched a new digital degree apprenticeship programme with the UK's University of bath. Bournemouth and London-based technologists at the bank are being given one day a week to work towards the MSc accreditation without giving up their day jobs.

The course, which takes two and a half years to complete, was embarked upon by fifteen JPMorgan technologists last October and will be open to more this autumn. Derek Joyce, an MD in JPMorgan's technology strategy team, said the course is a " a fantastic opportunity" for the bank's experienced technology employees. 

JPMorgan employs around 50,000 technologists globally. The bank didn't respond to a query on how it selects people for the new qualification. Last year JPMorgan began building a campus in Silicon Valley to train its technology employees. The bank is also offering coding lessons to all 300 graduate staff joining its asset management unit this year.

Have a confidential story, tip, or comment you’d like to share? Contact: sbutcher@efinancialcareers.com in the first instance. Whatsapp/Signal/Telegram also available. Bear with us if you leave a comment at the bottom of this article: all our comments are moderated by human beings. Sometimes these humans might be asleep, or away from their desks, so it may take a while for your comment to appear. Eventually it will – unless it’s offensive or libelous (in which case it won’t.)