JPM e-mails link China business with hiring ruling elite's kids

By Ben Protess and Jessica Silver-Greenberg
The New York Times
Saturday, December 7, 2013

Federal authorities have obtained confidential documents that shed new light on JPMorgan Chase's decision to hire the children of China's ruling elite, securing emails that show how the bank linked one prominent hire to "existing and potential business opportunities" from a Chinese government-run company.

The documents, which also include spreadsheets that list the bank's "track record" for converting hires into business deals, offer the most detailed account yet of JPMorgan's "Sons and Daughters" hiring program, which has been at the center of a federal bribery investigation for months. The spreadsheets and emails -- recently submitted by JPMorgan to authorities -- illuminate how the bank created the program to prevent questionable hiring practices but ultimately viewed it as a gateway to doing business with state-owned companies in China, which commonly issue stock with the help of Wall Street banks.

The hiring practices seemed to have been an open secret at the bank's headquarters in Hong Kong, according to the documents, copies of which were reviewed by The New York Times. In the email citing the "existing and potential business opportunities," a senior JPMorgan executive in Hong Kong emphasized that the father of a job candidate was the chairman of the China Everbright Group, a state-controlled financial conglomerate. The executive also extolled the broader benefits of the hiring program, telling colleagues in another email: "You all know I have always been a big believer of the Sons and Daughters program -- it almost has a linear relationship" with winning assignments to advise Chinese companies. Until now, the indications of a connection between the hires and business deals have not been so explicit. ...

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