Jamie Dimon Says Moats in Banking Are Temporary. Sounds Like Travel.

Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase, told an investor conference this week that competitive moats in banking are largely fleeting — technology creates only a temporary edge. 

The argument was that corporate culture and the passion to innovate and invest in the future matter more than code. And if you’re not building the next big thing, whatever moat you have is already eroding.

“If I do something better, well, so is everyone else eventually, and that gets competed away, or it’s being given to the client,” Dimon said. “So I think you can create temporary margin, but not permanent margin.”

Dimon wasn’t discussing travel companies — but he might as well have been.

It is notable that bank travel portals such as his own Chase Travel are gunning for the incumbent online travel agencies, and are chipping away at their dominance even as credit card companies strike OTA supply partnerships.

Chase Travel, American Express Tra