JPMorgan names Anu Aiyengar sole head of global M&A

Reuters

Published Jan 12, 2023 10:09AM ET

Updated Jan 12, 2023 12:37PM ET

By Anirban Sen

NEW YORK (Reuters) -JPMorgan Chase & Co on Thursday named Anu Aiyengar as the sole head of its global mergers and acquisitions (M&A) franchise after co-head Dirk Albersmeier stepped down from the role, cementing her status as the only female executive leading the franchise at a major Wall Street bank.

The move was announced in an internal memo sent out by JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM)'s two global co-heads of investment banking, James Casey and Viswas Raghavan. The contents of the memo were confirmed by a JPMorgan spokeswoman.

Albersmeier will take on a new "wholly client and transaction-focused role" within JPMorgan, according to the memo.

"Going forward, Anu will be the sole head of our global M&A business and Dirk will focus exclusively on providing our clients with first-class M&A advice and continuing to mentor the next generation of M&A leaders," the memo said.

JPMorgan ranked second on the financial league table rankings last year, having advised on deals worth over $900 billion, according to data from Dealogic. Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) led the rankings for 2022, having advised on over $1.2 trillion worth of transactions.

JPMorgan's M&A leadership reshuffle comes at a time of a significant slowdown in the pace of dealmaking that has forced Wall Street's top investment banks to undertake a big round of layoffs, which represent the biggest contraction in headcount since the financial crisis.

Aiyengar is among a handful of women executives on Wall Street to lead a global M&A advisory franchise. Other prominent female leaders include Faiza Saeed, presiding partner at law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP, Melissa Sawyer, global head of the M&A group at law firm Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, and Barbara Becker, chair and managing partner at law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.