JPMorgan Chase Uses COIN Machine Learning Program To Eliminate 360K Lawyer Hours A Year

Technology has and will continue to replace a lot of jobs. Many people are particularly concerned about the effects of technology on traditionally blue-collar jobs, such as the fate of truck drivers in the face of self-driving vehicles. One group of workers that likely did not expect to be replaced, however, are lawyers. JPMorgan Chase & Co. just introduced a software program that eliminates an estimated 360,000 hours of work each year previously done by lawyers and financial loan officers.

Contract Intelligence (COIN) uses machine learning to review and interpret commercial loan agreements. The document is able to scan over documents in seconds and is less error prone than human beings. COIN is just the tip of the iceberg for JPMorgan Chase, which is determined to automate some more mundane tasks and create new tools for bankers. The bank currently has a $9.6 billion USD budget for technology.

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The leaders of this movement toward automation are Chief Operating Operating Officer Matt Zames and Chief Information Officer Dana Deasy. Zames joined JPMorgan Chase three years ago and argued that the bank would need to improve its technology in order to maintain dominance in the market. They visited companies like Apple and Facebook to better understand how they developed new technologies.

Since Zames joined JPMorgan Chase, the bank has developed its own cloud computing system Gaia. The bank also now relies on cloud computing services from Amazon, Microsoft, and IBM. JPMorgan Chase also now allows firms like BlackRock Inc. to access balances, research and trading tools. This move allows clients to more easily access routine information.

One third of the company’s technology budget is currently aimed at new initiatives. Zames’ goal is to increase this slice to 40 percent during the next few years. Finance chief Marianne Lake remarked, “We’re willing to invest to stay ahead of the curve, even if in the final analysis some of that money will go to product or a service that wasn’t needed”. It appears that more automation, and perhaps less lawyers, are in JPMorgan Chase’s future.
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