A rich inheritance.

We're proud of our history. Justifiably so. Our past is dotted with memorable dates and red-letter days. Our roots stretch back to 1799 with the creation of the Bank of the Manhattan Company. JPMorgan & Co. was founded in New York in 1871 as Drexel, Morgan & Co. by Philadelphia banker Anthony Drexel and a certain J. Pierpont Morgan. You may have heard of him. We’ve never been a purely US bank, either. Our roots in Europe go back to 1838 and we can boast the longest uninterrupted association in France of any foreign bank in the world - some 137 years, in fact. In 1907 we rescued the New York Stock Exchange. In 1901 we created the world’s first billion-dollar corporation.

As with so much else, we did it first, and we still do it better. Take 'relationship banking', for example. Today, it's a phrase used by all and sundry. But when J. Pierpont Morgan first uttered it, it was nothing short of revolutionary. The means may have changed, but it's a principle that still underpins our business even now.

Of course, tradition itself is worth next to nothing. Reminiscing about past victories simply to wallow in nostalgia is a pointless exercise. No. Ours is an illustrious history. We know that. But we're never going to rest on our collective laurels or pat our collective backs. Rather, we see it as a particularly rich inheritance. We're naturally very careful about whom we bequeath it to.

In July 2004, the merger of JPMorgan Chase & Co and Bank One created one of the world's foremost financial services groups. Two powerful and world-renowned financial institutions came together. Not only did the merger bring together some 160,000 people, operations in some 50 countries and more than $1.3 trillion in assets - it also brought together some 400 collective years of history.

We now have top-tier positions in both business-to-business (wholesale) and mass-market (retail) banking, alongside a more balanced earnings stream, greater scale and financial strength. Our consumer, small and middle-market businesses operate under the Chase brand. But it's the JPMorgan wholesale business we're most interested in here.

Although one of the industry's defining moments of the last ten years or so, the deal was really only the latest in a series of mergers that have brought together banks with similar viewpoints and cultures. Staying ahead means not standing still.

Our mission now is a simple one: to be the most profitable, respected and influential investment bank in the world. We know we can do it. In this, we're certainly inspired by our history. But we're more excited by the future.