MIME-Version: 1.0 Server: CERN/3.0 Date: Thursday, 18-Dec-97 12:31:18 GMT Content-Type: text/html Content-Length: 17345 Last-Modified: Monday, 04-Aug-97 18:41:56 GMT The J.P. Morgan legacy J.P. Morgan Home page



    Milestones
    in the history of
    J.P. Morgan

    1838
    American businessman George Peabody opens a London merchant banking Þrm, establishing the roots of the House of Morgan.

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Junius S. Morgan
1813-1890

    1854
    Junius S. Morgan, descendant of a New England family of merchants, becomes Peabody's partner, eventually taking over the Þrm in 1864 and naming it J.S. Morgan & Co.

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    J. Pierpont Morgan
    1837-1913

    1861
    Junius's 24-year-old son, J. Pierpont Morgan, establishes J.P. Morgan & Co., which initially serves as a New York sales and distribution ofÞce for the European securities underwritten by his father's firm.

    1868
    The Paris banking firm Drexel, Harjes & Co. is formed. Pierpont becomes a partner in 1871, and the firm is later renamed Morgan, Harjes & Co.


Pierpont (right) and Henry Herman Harjes, senior partners of Morgan, Harjes & Co., the Paris banking firm instrumental in securing loans for the Allies during World War I.


    1895
    Five years after his father's death, Pierpont consolidates the family's banking interests, assuming the role of senior partner in each of four related firms in New York, Philadelphia, London, and Paris.

    1910
    The London investment banking Þrm Morgan, Grenfell & Co. is formed, replacing J.S. Morgan & Co. as the British arm of the Morgan network.


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J.P. (Jack) Morgan
1867-1943

    1913
    Pierpont dies;
    his son, J.P. (Jack) Morgan Jr., becomes the firm's senior partner. Construction begins on Morgan's new Italian Renaissance-style headquarters building at 23 Wall Street in New York City's Financial district.



    1935
    In response to the Banking Act of 1933, mandating the separation of banking and securities activities in the United States, J.P. Morgan & Co. chooses to continue its commercial banking business while several senior partners and staff members leave to form the securities firm of Morgan Stanley & Co.

    1959
    To boost its capital base and lending limits, Morgan, by now a public corporation, merges with Guaranty Trust Company, a New York-based commercial bank, to form Morgan Guaranty Trust Company of New York.


    1969
    J.P. Morgan & Co. Incorporated becomes a holding company for Morgan Guaranty, its principal subsidiary, and a growing number of smaller subsidiaries throughout the world.

    1982
    Morgan sells its remaining one-third interest in Morgan, Grenfell & Co.

    1989
    The U.S. Federal Reserve grants J.P. Morgan the right to underwrite and deal in corporate debt. Equity underwriting powers follows in 1990.



The building at 23 Wall Street, directly across from the New York Stock Exchange, served as headquarters until Morgan moved to 60 Wall Street in 1989.

    1996
    Morgan manages more than $87 billion in combined debt and equity issues and secures a place in the top rank of securities underwriters in the U.S.

    With sharpening strategic focus on core capabilities, Morgan divests its U.S. custody and cash processing business.




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    History of J.P. Morgan

    A tradition of client service
    In the development of modern global finance, few institutions have played a more prominent role than J.P. Morgan. The firm has built its reputation over the last 150 years.

    Morgan has long served as advisor, underwriter, and lender to an extensive roster of major companies. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the firm was instrumental in the initial structuring and financing of U.S. Steel, General Electric, American Telephone & Telegraph, and several other prominent corporations. Most of those early clients still maintain relationships with Morgan today, as do a wide variety of promising new companies, which rely on the firm to help formulate business strategies, determine optimal capital strategies, and increase long-term shareholder value.

    As a financial advisor to national governments, Morgan established its presence in 1870, when it extended a daring 10 million pound loan to the besieged government of France during the Franco-Prussian War. The firm served as a financial representative for the French and British governments during the two world wars and provided major financing for reconstruction after both conflicts. In 1988 Morgan developed a landmark program to enable the Mexican government to issue $2.6 billion in bonds to creditor banks in exchange for existing debt--a model widely used afterward in restructuring the debt of developing countries. More recently Morgan arranged a $5.5 billion syndicated loan to help the government of Kuwait rebuild its nation after the Persian Gulf War. In emerging markets, the firm is advising a number of governments in their efforts to privatize industries and nurture free-market economies.

    In world financial markets, Morgan has long been an important intermediary, linking issuers and investors around the globe. In addition, Morgan has forged a solid reputation as an investment manager of institutional assets. The firm has also served the investment and fiduciary needs of many of the great personal and family fortunes amassed during the past century--a role it continues to play as a leading financial adviser to wealthy individuals.


    A family legacy
    The tradition and values that define J.P. Morgan today were forged by three generations of Morgans, who built a family banking dynasty that was passed from father to son for over a century. Junius S. Morgan, an American businessman, established the Morgan name in the world's financial markets during his three decades as a merchant banker in Victorian London.

    J. Pierpont Morgan inherited his father's business in 1890 and consolidated the firm's European and American interests. Under Pierpont's guidance, the firm was instrumental in financing many of the enterprises--railroads, steel, mining, and utilities--that established the United States as a modern industrial power. In the years around the turn of the century, J. Pierpont Morgan was, in the words of one of his biographers, the "mightiest personal force in American business life." But for Pierpont, trust and integrity--not wealth and power--were the standards by which he measured his colleagues and clients. "The first thing is character...before money or anything else," he told a U.S. Congressional banking committee in 1912. "Money cannot buy it...because a man I do not trust could not get money from me on all the bonds in Christendom."

    After Pierpont's death in 1913, his son, J.P. Morgan Jr., became senior partner, leading the firm during three tumultuous decades that spanned the outbreak of two world wars, as well as periods of economic prosperity and devastating depression. Echoing his father's thoughts on character and values, Jack Morgan--in an appearance before Congress in 1933--defined a business philosophy for his firm that still rings true today. "At all times the idea of doing not only first class business, and that in a first class way, has been before our minds. We have never been satisfied with simply keeping within the law, but have constantly sought to act that we may fully observe the professional code, and so maintain the credit and representation which has been handed down to us from our predecessors in the firm."

  • Junius S. Morgan (4.5 mb Quicktime) Securing a loan for France during Franco - Prussian War.
  • J. Pierpont Morgan Sr. (4 mb Quicktime) JPM's role during America's rise to industrial prominence.
  • The Jack Morgan era (2.8 mb Quicktime) Morgan financial assistance to England and Japan


    A house divided
    The Roaring 20's--a time of growth and prosperity on Wall Street and Main Street--ended with the Great Crash of October 1929. The Great Depression put 13 million Americans out of work. Two thousand investment firms went under. And the American banking industry underwent the biggest structural changes of its history, as a new era of government regulation began.



    The Great Crash of October 1929. Roosevelt's New Deal politics would follow.


    The Banking Act of 1933, better known as Glass-Steagall, separated commercial and investment banking--and split the House of Morgan. Glass-Steagall went into effect in 1935. Harry Morgan, one of Jack's sons, two Morgan partners, and about 25 employees left to form the investment bank Morgan Stanley. Most of the Morgan partners chose to remain.

    Thomas Lamont became chairman when Jack Morgan died in 1943. It marked the first time since 1864 that a Morgan had not managed the firm.

    The prosperity that followed World War II was a boon for J.P. Morgan. There were new opportunities and new challenges, including a pressing need for more capital. A later chairman, Henry Clay Alexander, met that need with a merger in 1959 with Guaranty Trust Company. It was a case, according to the press, of "Jonah swallowing the whale"--Guaranty was four times the size of Morgan.

    Making loans was the primary business of the day, and Morgan Guaranty Trust Company, as the new bank was called, thrived and expanded.




    Thomas Lamont



    Henry Clay Alexander



    Lewis Preston

    In the late 1960s and 70s, London resurged as a center of finance with the growth of the Euromarket. Lewis Preston, then manager of the London branch and later a Morgan chairman, moved aggressively into this market. The decision turned out to be both profitable and prescient. The prohibitions of Glass-Steagall did not hamper Morgan outside the United States, where widening opportunities in banking and securities proved to be a growing source of revenue.


    At the forefront of change
    Back in the United States, the structural flaws in the Glass Steagall Act began to show through with a vengeance. Big companies found ways to borrow more cheaply than from banks. Banks were forced to look for new ways to do business. J.P. Morgan was at the forefront of change.

    In 1989, the Federal Reserve gave Morgan permission to underwrite corporate debt securities. A year later came permission to underwrite equities. With the experience gained in Europe, Morgan was ready for its new powers in the United States.

    Today, J.P. Morgan offers clients around the world a full range of integrated capabilities, which include capital raising, strategic advice, market access, and asset management. Though the firm operates in a world that is more complex and faster paced than the one of its founders, its business principles remain those espoused by all three Morgans--integrity, objectivity, and judgment.

    This combination has placed the firm of J. P. Morgan in a position to deliver on Jack Morgan's promise--of first class business, done in a first class way.



    One of Morgan's trading rooms today.


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    Philosophy and character

    Our philosophy and character--how we work--are as important as our capabilities and services. We work within the context of a few long-standing, fundamental beliefs and strategic strengths:

    Objectivity
    We always put our clients' long-term interests first. We examine their situation impartially and recommend the best strategic options.

    Teamwork
    A team approach gives our clients the benefit of the breadth of our capabilities, functionally and geographically, as well as our most creative thinking. Our team-oriented culture also makes Morgan a rewarding and collegial place to work.

    Ethics and integrity
    We always operate with the belief that our reputation for fair dealing is our greatest asset; we are committed to maintaining the highest standards of conduct.

    Global perspective
    We bring an international reach and local touch to problem solving that comes from the years of experience we have gained from operating in all the major financial markets of the world.

    Capital strength
    Our solid capital base and high credit rating often translate intoadded financial stability and flexibility for our clients.



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