JPMorgan Chase is relaxing its approach to lending money against shares held by employees and early investors in recently public companies, aiming to win clients from emerging tech giants. JPMorgan's typical policy is not to accept as collateral shares in a company that has gone public within the past 135 days. However, it told bankers ahead of Space X's blockbuster initial public offering in June that it would lend against shares in Elon Musk's rocket and AI company sooner, according to people familiar with the matter.

Bankers inside JPMorgan expect the lender to have a similar approach when Anthropic, the maker of the Claude chatbot, goes public, though no final decision has been made. JPMorgan earned $75mn from its role on the Space X listing. JPMorgan's move underscores the efforts asset managers are making to win business from the huge wealth being generated by the AI boom.

Other banks such as Goldman Sachs will typically not wait longer than the 30-day period before engaging in this type of lending, said people familiar with the matter. JPMorgan said the bank's policy remains unchanged, adding that it assesses transactions on a case-by-case, client-by-client basis. Anthropic was valued at $18bn in 2024 and investors expect the AI start-up to float at a valuation of $2tn or more in October.