J.P. Morgan Head of CRE Payments talks treasury management

Partner Insights sat down with Jen D’Ambrosie who became the Head of the Commercial Real Estate Payments division earlier this year after transitioning from Northeast Regional Payments Lead for Real Estate Banking Payments. D’Ambrosie brings a deep understanding of payments and treasury management to commercial real estate banking solutions and a holistic approach to her new position.

Commercial Observer: How has your experience been transitioning into your new role as head of Commercial Real Estate Payments?

Jen D’Ambrosie: The transition has been energizing and clarifying. Stepping into the Head of CRE Payments role gave me the opportunity to take a high-performing business and think more holistically about how we scale it for the future.

What’s been most rewarding is seeing how purpose-driven leadership translates into performance, aligning client focus, strategy, and culture.

The team already had tremendous talent; my job has been to connect that talent to a broader vision for growth, innovation, and collaboration across the firm. Really syncing our CRE expertise to the firm’s payments resources.

What have been the main goals and strategic priorities you’ve been focusing on in the past year?

I’ve focused on three priorities this year.

Deepening client relationships by embedding ourselves earlier in clients’ capital and liquidity planning cycles and their core operating payment flows.

Second, accelerating digital adoption—modernizing how we deliver payments, onboarding, and reporting to improve speed and transparency. The firm offers innovative solutions to streamline digital operations like real-time payments, blockchain, fraud prevention, and cash-flow optimization.

The last one is building a sustainable talent pipeline. We’ve hired and developed the next generation of producer and sales leaders who bring new perspectives to how we engage clients.

These priorities are driving tremendous growth while improving client satisfaction and employee engagement.

What distinguishes commercial real estate operations from other sectors in terms of payments and treasury management?

Commercial real estate has unique capital-intensive, cyclical, and oftentimes binding multi-party transaction flows that make its payments requirements more complex than other sectors.

In CRE we’re managing rent payments, payroll, and vendor payments. We’re also helping our clients orchestrate capital calls, construction draws, and execute investor distributions across potentially hundreds, if not thousands of entities.

That complexity requires specialized treasury structures, advanced liquidity tools, and strong cross-product integration. It’s an ecosystem where scale, precision, and risk control are equally important. Our industry-specific products are why J.P. Morgan was named 2025 best bank for corporate banking and corporate cash management by the Coalition Greenwich Leaders: Global Corporate Banking, Cash Management and FX.

What are some of the biggest treasury and payments challenges commercial real estate clients face?

The big three are timing, transparency, and trust. When it comes to timing, clients need certainty of execution, faster access to funds, and real-time visibility into their bank accounts. Transparency comes into play when you have multiple investors or stakeholders and downstream clients.

For example, we’re typically dealing with property management companies and lenders on a day-to-day basis. That requires executing and reconciling payments quickly. In this role, it’s beyond important, it’s essential.

The last one is trust. This is an environment with tight margins. Having an efficient treasury management provider as a reliable resource who can provide solutions at scale is a competitive advantage for us. Our role is to meet our clients where they are, help them digitize what they can and automate those processes, while maintaining the control and governance that the industry requires. We are proud to report that we serve 90% of the U.S. Fortune 500 based on JPMorganChase Investor Day, May 2025.

What role does technology play in optimizing payments and treasury solutions for your clients?

Technology is a catalyst for transformation that we leverage to improve efficiency.  You’ve heard it many times but it’s still accurate. Application Programming Interface (API) systems are essential in tracking real-time payments to create treasury ecosystems that are faster, smarter, and better connected.

As an example, we’re helping clients integrate real-time data into their property management platforms, which enables predictive cash flow forecasting and overall better decision making.

It’s equally as important to work with clients on change management by helping them adapt to technology in a way that fits their operational realities.

The goal isn’t technology for its own sake; it’s using technology that delivers measurable business solutions. We use several different platforms including J.P. Morgan Access which is a primary tool offering a suite of digital, end-to-end solutions tailored to your business’s needs, and Chase Connect, another key platform with a single dashboard allowing you to manage multiple accounts and control cash flow.

What trends are you seeing in commercial real estate payments, and how is your team adapting to them?

There are three key trends currently happening in the market. The first is digitization which translates into delivering real-time results to treasury clients who are expecting instantaneous visibility and seamless execution. They have certain demands around faster payments.

The second is integration of data and insight. Treasury is not just operational, it’s very much strategic. For example, clients want data to help them manage key strategic client or vendor relationships, anticipating any unexpected shifts especially in managing liquidity in a proactive way in this dynamic rate environment. J.P. Morgan offers clients a range of treasury insights and data to help inform your day-to-day operations.

The third is a heightened focus on fraud mitigation. With high payment volumes and increased digital connection, risk expands. We help our clients control, authenticate, and reduce operational risks. Proactive fraud prevention and education is a critical element of treasury strategy.

We’re adapting by combining innovation with partnership—working closely with product management, technology, middle office, and credit teams to ensure our clients have the tools to compete in a dynamic market. Our guiding principle remains constant: help clients simplify complexity, create operating efficiency, unlock liquidity, and grow with confidence.

To discuss further, reach out to our dedicated Commercial Real Estate payments team.