J.P. Morgan AUM drops 5.3% in first quarter

J.P. Morgan Asset Management on Tuesday reported $2.239 trillion in assets under management as of March 31, down 5.3% from three months earlier and 6.8% higher than a year earlier.

Year-over-year AUM increases were driven by cumulative net inflows, which were partially offset by the impact of lower market levels at the end of the first quarter, Jennifer Piepszak, chief financial officer of parent J.P. Morgan Chase, said during the company's earnings call.

Net flows were $85 billion during the first quarter, in comparison to $58 billion in net flows during the fourth quarter and $9 billion in net flows during the first quarter of 2019.

"Flows in (asset and wealth management) were meaningfully different in March compared to January and February," Ms. Piepszak said, noting market volatility caused by the coronavirus health crisis.

"Long-term flows through February were strong (and) positive across all asset classes. This was more than offset by outflows in March," she said. "On the flipside, we saw significant net liquidity and flows into our government funds during March which more than offset money market outflows."

During the first quarter, Ms. Piepszak said, the firm's asset and wealth management unit saw net inflows of $75 billion into liquidity products.

As far as the company's response to the coronavirus outbreak, about 70% of all J.P. Morgan staff are working from home, and for some business groups the percentage of staff working remote is "well north of 90%," Ms. Piepszak added.

Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon separately told analysts during the earnings call that plans for Americans to return to work shouldn't be thought about "as a binary thing." He expects that the return to work will be "regional, by company, all following standards of best health practices."

Mr. Dimon added, "In some ways, you need to get that done because the bad economy has very adverse consequences way beyond just the economy," impacting mental health and the incidence of domestic abuse and substance abuse.

"A rational plan to get back to work is a good thing to do. Hopefully, it will be sooner rather than later, but it won't be May," he said. "We're talking about June, July (or) August."