Slow Motion Succession Battle at Morgan House

Jamie Dimon was once touted as potential U.S. Presidential Candidate. When the long-time JPMorgan Chase chief executive decides to oppose the White House campaign in 2020, there are only two term limits.

Dimon has been in his job since the end of 2005, and this week JPMorgan announced his retirement, announcing that one of his lieutenants and one of his lieutenants will succeed him, laying the foundation for this slow-motion struggle. Elevation Marianne Lake (Marianne Lake) and Jennifer Piepszak (Jennifer Piepszak) are responsible for the bank’s huge consumer business.

Analysts believe this move marks JPMorgan Chase can appoint the first female CEO in its history. However, few people inside the bank expected the popular and outspoken 65-year-old Dimon to give up his role soon.

The bank said that the board of JP Morgan Chase had told Dimon that he hoped he would continue to “continue to work for many years.” According to people familiar with the matter, internally, JPMorgan Chase executives have been told that this means another five to seven years.

That would expand Dimon’s rule, Dimon experienced Emergency heart surgery Last year, entered the third decade-otherwise it would be the beginning of the sixth term of the presidency.

John Coffee, a professor at Columbia University’s School of Law, said: “Except for the London Whale, this man has a long and peaceful tenure.” He was referring to the 2012 scandal. JPMorgan lost $6.2 billion by secretly betting on credit derivatives.

“The other people around were no longer there at the beginning.”

Although this week’s changes at JP Morgan Chase did not herald Dimon’s imminent departure, it came at a time when America’s largest lending institution changed its vigilance more broadly, and some of them agreed to reach a new leadership. Hard work.

Last fall, Citigroup CEO Mike Corbat Announce He has been in charge for eight years, and sooner than many expected, he will resign and hand over to Jane Fraser, who was born in Scotland.

On Thursday, competitor Morgan Stanley (Morgan Stanley) started a game Succession battle When CEO James Gorman made a series of leadership changes, the most famous was the promotion of two top representatives, Ted Pick and Andy Saperstein. Saperstein) served as co-chairman.

A template for Disney’s eventual departure may be Disney’s Bob Iger, who resigned as CEO last year and continued to serve as chairman to manage this transition. This is the practice of all recent CEO successors at JPMorgan Chase, including Dimon when William Harrison Jr. took over.

If Piepszak or Lake holds the top position, JPMorgan will become the second largest Wall Street lender led by women after Wall Street. altitude Mr. Fraser of Citigroup.

Gordon Smith, who will retire at the end of the year, is now being succeeded by Lake and Piepszak. He said that the two have risen to the top of the bank because they are powerful leader.

Smith told the British “Financial Times”: “The consumer business has more than 120,000 employees, and they have the ability to balance the IQ and EQ of this job.”

The two bankers have worked at JPMorgan Chase for more than two decades. Most recently, Lake was in charge of JPMorgan’s consumer lending business, and Piepszak has been the chief financial officer since replacing Lake in 2019.

Lake has outside suitors. People familiar with the matter said she had discussions about becoming CEO of Wells Fargo in 2019. A Wells Fargo spokeswoman declined to comment on the matter. In the end, the role was taken by Charles Scharf, another veteran of JPMorgan Chase.

After Smith’s retirement, the board of JP Morgan Chase saw the Argentine investment banker Daniel Pinto (Daniel Pinto) as the first executive to take over from Dimon in the short term, provided that he could not perform his duties in an emergency. He will become the bank’s sole president and chief operating officer at the end of this year.

Pinto, who has been working at the bank since 1983, was appointed chief executive with Smith last year after Dimon underwent surgery.

A person familiar with the matter said that JPMorgan Chase has other internal competitors. The lender’s operating committee was expanded in September, and two of the participants-Teresa Heitsenrether, who is in charge of security services, and Troy Rohrbaugh, who leads the transaction business, are seen as rising stars.

Mary Erdoes is the head of JPMorgan’s $340 million asset and wealth management department. It is another high-profile competitor and has long been one of the bank’s competitors. Highly paid executives, The annual income exceeds $ 20ma.

The promotion of Pick and Saperstein of Morgan Stanley, and the two other top bank deputy governors Jonathan Pruzan and Dan Simkowitz (Dan Simkowitz), launched a four-party competition and eventually took over from Gorman, who has been leading the bank since 2010.

Peak and Saperstein head the institutional securities and wealth management divisions respectively, which are the two business divisions of Morgan Stanley and account for approximately 90% of bank revenue.

Some inside the bank referred to the group of competitors as the “four knights”, reflecting the composition of all the men on the shortlist.

Gorman, 62, told Morgan Stanley’s board of directors that he promised to serve at least another three years. However, according to a person familiar with his plan, he does not expect to serve longer than the next five years.

Neither JPMorgan nor Morgan Stanley directors have reason to rush to remove the current CEO.Dimon and Gorman served longer and more successful terms than them European counterparts, They are struggling with negative interest rates and a series of scandals.

But in both cases, when the industry is facing new pressure from the younger generation of employees, the two gender experts will extend their terms so that they can act quickly on environmental and sustainability issues and other areas. Conflicting views How should bankers return to the office after the pandemic?

“Boards must be aware of when the CEO no longer prioritizes things important to the next generation of leaders. This is especially important in financial services where demographics are undergoing dramatic changes.” Nell, a governance expert at ValueEdge Advisors Minow said.

Minow said that for Morgan Stanley, the lack of diversity among current competitors is obvious.

She added: “When you see a large number of potential candidates like this, you think: Are you not gaining much? What do you miss?”