lifestyle
Meet the banker
Fifty-one-year-old John
Coulter is Managing Director
and head of sub-Saharan
Africa for JP Morgan,
responsible for growing
the company’s franchise
in South Africa and subSaharan Africa. He has a
broad investment banking
background, including
derivatives, commodities and
structured finance, extensive
experience in emerging
markets in South Africa.
How did you become a banker?
I studied law at Trinity College, Dublin, and then
did an MBA at University College, Dublin. I enjoyed
the banking and finance parts of the course. I was
interested in finance, and I thought if I was going
to be in finance I’d want to be a revenue generator
making finance happen rather than recording it in an
accounting function. JP Morgan came to university to
recruit, and I joined them there.
They sent me to New York for six months of training
– we did a long period of training then – I facilitated
the following course after that, which brought my stay
to nearly a year. After that I went to London.
How long have you been in South Africa?
We came to South Africa on what was supposed to be
just an assignment in 1999; we’ve been here for over
13 years. My children have had a good education here.
What sources do you use for business news?
Well, I read Business Day – both the actual newspaper
and the online version – and I read the Financial Times
online. I also get a lot from the JP Morgan research
sites. Those are the sources I go to on a regular basis.
Edition 4
BANKER sa
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