JPMorgan relaja la oferta de crédito a inversores de IA

JPMorgan has relaxed its policy on granting loans secured by shares of companies that have recently gone public, in an effort to attract investors and employees from leading AI firms. The bank's usual stance is to not accept shares of companies that have been publicly traded for less than 135 days as collateral for such loans. However, this rule has been changed for SpaceX, which went public in June.

JPMorgan's bankers hope to adopt a similar approach when Anthropic, the company behind the Claude chatbot, goes public. This shift highlights the asset managers' efforts to attract wealthy clients spurred by the surge in AI.

Other banks, like Goldman Sachs, typically wait no more than 30 days before issuing these types of loans, according to sources close to the matter. JPMorgan emphasizes that its practices exceed regulatory requirements and that they have always evaluated transactions on a case-by-case basis, considering factors such as market liquidity.

High-ranking AI lab engineers can earn millions, and some Anthropic employees reportedly possess fortunes in the tens of millions, many of which are tied to company shares. In the second quarter, Morgan Stanley's wealth management business attracted over $74 billion in new assets from employee stock option plans, including those of SpaceX, thanks to its work in managing employee equity plans for tech companies.

Anthropic was valued at $18 billion in 2024 and is estimated to be worth $965 billion as of the latest data. The company announced in June that it had confidentially submitted its application to go public, with investors expecting a valuation of $2 trillion or more in October. For affluent individuals, secured loans can be a more tax-efficient way to avoid selling their shares.

The crucial aspect for banks assessing the quality of collateral is its ease of liquidation, as shares of tech companies that have gone public can be more volatile. Nevertheless, the number of high-value tech firms going public presents a significant opportunity for Wall Street firms seeking to manage the money of the new wealthy.