JPMorgan lets rich European clients borrow against luxury cars

The Wall Street giant’s private bank will give clients the option of borrowing against classic, rare or custom-designed automobiles

JPMorgan Chase is expanding its lending services to the wealthy by allowing them to borrow against their classic and luxury car collections in Europe, tapping a favoured asset class of the rich.

The Wall Street giant’s private bank will give clients the option of borrowing against classic, rare or custom-designed automobiles physically stored in European jurisdictions such as England, Italy and Germany. The service, already available to clients in the US, will also be expanded to France, Switzerland and Spain, the bank said on Monday (Dec 15).

The lending push comes as wealthy individuals use car collections – and other physical assets – as a way to diversify fortunes, building on the auto sector’s traditional status for passion projects. Classic cars from European brands such as Ferrari, Porsche and Mercedes-Benz Group have outperformed stock markets in recent years, and the overall market still grew in 2024, even amid a broader downturn for luxury assets.

High-end automobiles rank as the most popular luxury asset younger members of the world’s ultra-rich aspire to own personally, besides real estate, according to Knight Frank’s 2025 Wealth Report. That puts cars ahead of demand for private jets, wine and art collections and superyachts.

Members of the world’s rich betting on luxury autos, include Mark Mateschiz, the 33-year-old son of energy drinks-maker Red Bull GmbH’s late co-founder, who bought UK billionaire Bernie Ecclestone’s automobile collection this year.

French father-and-son luxury billionaires Francois and Francois-Henri Pinault, as well as tech tycoon Xavier Niel, are also backing a project to revive the historic luxury French car brand Delage Automobiles, a maker of hypercars costing at least two million euros (S$3 million) each.

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“We understand that collecting automobiles is driven by both passion and investment,” Steven Hawkins, head of speciality lending at JPMorgan’s international private bank, said. BLOOMBERG

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