Europe is “losing” the fight for economic supremacy against its main rivals China and the US, and faces a drought of globally competitive companies, the head of JP Morgan has warned.
Jamie Dimon, chief executive of the world’s biggest bank, warned EU leaders that the trading bloc had lost its edge compared to America.
“You’re losing,” he told an event organised by Ireland’s foreign ministry. “Europe has gone from 90pc US GDP to 65pc over 10 or 15 years. That’s not good.
“We’ve got this huge strong market and our companies are big and successful, have huge kinds of scale that are global. You have that, but less and less.”
Mr Dimon is one of the world’s most influential bankers, having led JP Morgan for almost two decades since taking over as chief executive in 2006.
The JP Morgan boss has repeatedly voiced concerns about the state of Europe’s economy, while calling on the EU to boost its economic growth.
In April, Mr Dimon told the Financial Times that Europe needed “to do more” to stay competitive. “The GDP per person has dropped from something like 70pc of America to 50pc. That’s not sustainable,” he said.
“I think Europe has already recognised it needs to change its own rules, regulations, and guidelines if they want to grow faster.”
His comments come as EU leaders seek to kickstart the bloc’s economy following more than a decade of underwhelming growth since the 2008 financial crash.
In a 400-page report last year, Mario Draghi, the former president of the European Central Bank, warned of a widening gap between the size and strength of Europe and America’s economies.
In response, Mr. Draghi’s report called for an additional $810 billion to $865 billion in annual investment in the EU economy to help ensure the bloc’s future competitiveness.
The report warns that the EU faces an “existential challenge” due to its weak economy, which it blames on slow development of its technology industry.
The Draghi report adds that the abrupt loss of cheap gas supplies from Russia due to the war in Ukraine is now making the situation faced by the EU even worse.
The JP Morgan chief has also been a vocal critic of Brexit, including warning that the UK’s exit from the EU could see jobs in the City moved to European financial centres including Paris, Frankfurt and Amsterdam.
In his annual letter to investors in 2021, Mr Dimon said: “In the short run (i.e. the next few years), [Brexit] cannot possibly be a positive for the UK’s GDP.”
A JP Morgan spokesman declined to comment further on Mr Dimon’s remark.
