| The big news in Frankfurt today was the latest rate cut from the European Central Bank. But last night the finance community—including a squad from the ECB—gathered in the streets of the German city to try to lower their finish times in the JPMorgan Corporate Challenge. As Laura Noonan writes, it’s become quite a competition. Plus: Bill Ackman finds a new release valve beyond the boardroom. If this email was forwarded to you, click here to sign up. When Brexit spurred London bankers nine years ago to consider moving to cities that remained in the European Union, Frankfurt—denigrated as boring and stuffy—was a destination few professed much desire to go. And yet, the German financial capital on Wednesday hosted what’s arguably the biggest social mixer in finance, with almost 50,000 runners thronging the streets for the JPMorgan Corporate Challenge. Although the race is open to entrants from any kind of company—as well as police officers, teachers, postal workers and more—in Frankfurt it’s finance that dominates the field. Investment bankers jostle with hedge funders, traders, consultants, regulators and more than a few crypto bros. The 5.6 kilometer (3.5 mile) course starts near the opera house, then winds its way among the city’s signature skyscrapers.  Frankfurt’s skyline towers over hospitality tents. Photographer: Laura Noonan The event might be dismissed as a low-stress amble, thanks to the tens of thousands of participants who walk or jog as well as a prize purse that doesn’t go beyond JPMorgan-branded swag. But the global finance community sees it as a blood sport, with some banks rumored to hire college track stars to improve their chances. One person who might fit that description is Gianluca Pozzatti, an Italian triathlete who competed on his country’s Olympic squad in Paris and Tokyo. Pozzatti joined JPMorgan Chase & Co. in February to work with midsize German companies, and though he was keen to win in Frankfurt, his bosses insist that’s not why he was hired. “I needed a new challenge,” he says. “It was time for me to do something different.” As it turns out, he’s still pretty good at his old job, too, finishing fifth, 24 seconds behind the winner. More typical is Alex Mayer, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. partner who took over JPMorgan’s Germany and Austria business in November. He wasn’t much for jogging before he got the new position, but ribbing from colleagues prompted him to buy new shoes and a Garmin Fenix Solar 7 smartwatch and hit the roads and trails. “I had people calling me up saying, ‘Hey, Alex, we are so happy you’re joining, but also, to be clear, we have high expectations for you when it comes to running,’” he says. “I’m very nervous!” The event traces its roots to 1977, when Manufacturer’s Hanover (a JPMorgan forerunner) held a 3.5 mile race in New York’s Central Park, which lore says is the reason the events all cover the same, somewhat unusual distance. The race has since grown to 16 events in eight countries, and Frankfurt is the biggest, accounting for more than a quarter of the global total of participants. “Whether someone needs to walk it or crawl it, it’s better than looking out the window at it,” says Aidan McSwiney, a Morgan Stanley executive director who’s part of the bank’s 120-member team. He’s not, though, a walker or crawler himself; he was fifth overall last year and 14th on Wednesday.  At the finish line: 65,000 bananas. Photographer: Laura Noonan The European Central Bank, often criticized for dragging its heels on processing risk models submitted by banks, proves far speedier in running shoes: Its 469-member squad clocked the fastest average time among big teams. Lining up at the start, the ECB’s top competitors bounce on the balls of their feet while scanning the crowd for speedy members of the Frankfurt Police and the German Football Association teams. “We know each other,” says Birgitt Bohn, a former winner of the Frankfurt event. “There’s always the usual suspects.” Bohn was right to have an eye on the cops. One of their women—Nina Voelckel—storms home in 18:08, more than 30 seconds ahead of her closest rival. The male winner was Simon Stützel, a one-time Deutsche Bank AG employee who now runs his own firm, Scholarbook GmbH, which helps match athletes and universities. His time of 16:06 was two seconds faster than 12 years ago, when he also won. “If you’re better at 38 than at 26, I think that’s an accomplishment,” he says. Once the competition winds down, the event’s real purpose comes into focus. Yes, the participants take a blistering or leisurely run through Frankfurt, but it’s the after-party networking that really counts. Frankfurt’s opera house is transformed into a multitiered hospitality extravaganza put on by JPMorgan, where a DJ spins tunes and everything from salmon and salads to schnitzel and beer is on offer. The bank’s executives, showered and changed back into their suits, chat up the hundreds of clients who’ve been invited for the fun. Out on the plaza and leafy boulevards around the opera house, and in bars across the city, scores of other companies invite runners and spectators to hospitality events, with barbecues, beer and dancing amid the remnants of the 65,000 bananas that were laid out at the finish. Caroline Pötsch-Hennig, head of German private banking for JPMorgan, has a well-honed routine for those meetings in the hospitality tents: She avoids asking about finish times. In a crowd packed with high-achieving finance pros, “we have a lot of people who will tell you proactively, especially the ones who are fast.” |
