When capital exceeds the well-capitalized level (7% for credit unions) organic growth is sometimes never enough to satisfy ambition. Acquisitions come next. A current example.
From Jamie Dimon , CEO JP Morgn on organic growth and acquisitions:
| “If you sit around a lot of management meetings, the first thing they do when they’re not doing well in organic growth is they start to bulls—t about M&A.” |
| — JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, explaining that he warns his team not to get lost in pipe-dream deal talks instead of improving their own operations.
And yet, Dimon today announced that the bank could consider an acquisition worth up to $20 billion in the next few years now that it has greater flexibility from regulators to spend capital. WSJ May 27, 2026 |
Tomorrow’s followup: with credit unions’ average net worth over 11.3% at March 31, 2026, do individual coops have excess capital? Are these billions of equity above required amounts fueling bank acquisition efforts? Or fintech investments?