What the Papers Say

16 June 2008 - The Financial Times

Banking: Still a top priority in a fast-changing world

Once upon a time in a foreign country called "the past", before credit squeezes, dotcom busts and hedge fund collapses, JPMorgan, the investment bank, would every year send its new graduate trainees from around the world on a six-week financial training programme in New York.

I know this is not a myth because I was there in 1998 – we had six weeks of intensive work and a moderate amount of play and it must have cost somebody a fortune. I had not been keeping track but I had assumed that the New York trip had been scrapped in favour of something cheaper: I was wrong.

James Bland, global head of training and development at the bank, says the global programme is "always looked at in these times" but senior management remains very committed to it. What is more, these days the new graduates also have follow-up training from their local business unit. The bank calls these sessions "boot camps". Mr Bland says there are no plans to exchange the JPMorgan global programme for local options. However, Donald Ross, sales director of Kaplan Financial, a large financial training provider in the UK and Asia, says many City of London companies he works with are now looking for "a similar look and feel globally, but with local delivery".

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