It is a world she is familiar with and one in which she had the measure of many of the big boys in the business. Two decades at JP Morgan and having advised on M&A transactions worth $500 billion, Aiyengar, who left India to study in the US and then worked her way up first in American Express and then in her current firm, is an outlier in an industry where few women occupy top positions. And a coloured person at that having encountered colour, gender and country discrimination during her recruitment time.
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As Aiyengar told Bloomberg back in 1999 when she first joined JPMorgan, many folks weren’t sure whether a woman would be successful in the M&A business, recalling the early phase of her career when for days on end she would not see a woman in this business.
For the immigrant from Kerala whose father was a civil servant and mother a teacher, the transition to the world of deal-making wasn’t an easy one after graduating from the Owen Graduate School of Management, Vanderbilt University, and the liberal arts college Smith in Massachusetts, followed by an initial stint at American Express. Aiyengar, according to the Bloomberg report, used to worry that she was clueless about the basics on how to talk, behave, present and dress in a professional environment.
What a long journey it has been. Her boss Jamie Dimon, the Chairman of JPMorgan since 2005, has said that what was a traditionally male bastion, marked by cigar-smoking men in suspenders, Aiyengar is right at the top of the field. To Dimon, it is only because Iyengar is simply outstanding at what she does in M&A. He should know, having been on the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and on Time magazine’s 2006, 2008, 2009, and 2011 lists of the world’s 100 most influential people.
Dimon led JPMorgan Chase to the leading position in the US in domestic assets under management, market capitalization value, and publicly traded stock value. What helped were the acquisitions the bank snapped up during his tenure.
Can Aiyengar chart the same path to the C suite at the financial giant? If the hectic deal-making she’s powered is an indicator, her chances would seem bright.
In 2021, Aiynegar’s first full year as global M&A co-head — she was promoted in February 2020 — JPMorgan's global mergers and acquisitions practice wrapped up 637 deals, according to the American Banker. The nearly 250 M&A professionals that Aiyengar supervises made $4.1 billion in fees that year, it notes. The deals concluded include the marriage of luxury brands, LMVH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE’s purchase of Tiffany & Co. And Getty Images, the editorial and stock photography company, going public through the purchase of CC Neuberger Principal Holdings, a special purpose acquisition company.
The new JPMorgan M&A boss also bats often for more women not just in her job segment but also in the financial services industry. Both in her firm and in Wall Street, Aiyengar is involved in recruiting and mentoring women and ensuring that they fulfil their potential, extending that role to her old college, Smith, as a member of its board of trustees, and not-for-profit organisations such as Pratham and other initiatives.
While there is enough to cheer an Indian-origin professional making it big on Wall Street, and the years between 2006-07 and 2015 were indeed glory days for women here in India at least in the financial sector, when few countries would have had as many women heading both government-owned and top private and foreign banks, including the country’s largest bank, State Bank of India, the country’s top stock exchange, National Stock Exchange, and senior positions at the Reserve Bank of India, the scene has dulled since.
If some of those star women leaders have their reputations tarred with graft charges brought against them, few have made it to top positions in recent years. The country has a woman finance minister but has seen a steady decline in the number of women heading banks, especially the state-owned, and other financial services firms.
Aiyengar says she is passionate about having more women in financial services, especially banking. Kristalina Georgieva, the head of the International Monetary Fund, too makes the point that women in senior positions ought to mentor other women to create a sense of confidence to step up. Iyengar as well as many women in ICICI Bank and a few other institutions had bosses to champion them. India needs more such mentors to pitch for gender diversity including on the boards of many companies. Indian companies will only be richer for that.
Elsewhere in Mint
In Opinion, Madan Sabnavis says the upcoming budget may not spring any big surprise. Pramit Bhattacharya reveals what data says about the great Indian middle class. Rajat Dhawan writes about five priorities for India Inc. Long Story delves deep into India's ongoing pension battle.
