A multibillion-dollar trading loss and multiple regulatory investigations apparently haven't made life too miserable at JPMorgan Chase.
In a survey of some 3,500 Wall Street professionals, JPMorgan's investment bank was selected as the best firm to work for in North America this year, judging by quality of life and overall prestige. The firm held the N.1 spot for the second year in a row, according to the survey released Wednesday by the career research company Vault.
JPMorgan's investment bank edged out the Blackstone Group, which shot upward in the ranks to second from 24th a year earlier. Goldman Sachs, which came in third, ranked second last year, after being knocked from the top spot by JPMorgan.
The survey asked employees to assess their rival firms by prestige and to judge their own employer by considerations like compensation, hours and culture. JPMorgan also claimed the top spot in Europe, where Goldman Sachs came in second and Morgan Stanley pla ced third, according to Vault.
JPMorgan was seen as highly prestigious by bankers at other firms, who said it was “just like Goldman and arguably better,†according to Vault. JPMorgan also beat Goldman in terms of quality of life, Vault said.
Goldman Sachs, though, may draw some solace from another set of rankings that was published on Wednesday.
Lloyd C. Blankfein, Goldman's chief executive, was deemed one of 10 influential bankers in an annual list by Bloomberg Markets Magazine. Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan's leader, was also on the list.
Mr. Blankfein, the magazine said, “has won back some influence in part by simply keeping the firm out of the headlines.â€
A cloud has hung over JPMorgan Chase this year after it disclosed a trading loss in its chief investment office that eventually grew to at least $5.8 billion. Still, the loss didn't stop the nation's second-largest bank by assets from logging a profit of $5 billion in the second quarter.
