By Nupur Anand, Niket Nishant, Saeed Azhar
(Reuters) -One of many main contenders to grow to be CEO of JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:), Jennifer Piepszak, on Tuesday took herself out of the operating for now, elevating the probabilities of a trio of different executives vying for Wall Avenue’s high job.
Traders have been centered on who will succeed Jamie Dimon, one of the vital influential figures in international enterprise, as CEO of JPMorgan for years. Tuesday’s announcement forged extra uncertainty over who will finally substitute Dimon, who in 2024 introduced he might step down in as quickly as two and a half years, analysts and sources mentioned.
Piepszak, who presently serves as co-CEO of the business and funding financial institution, will succeed Daniel Pinto, a high lieutenant of Dimon and a four-decade veteran at JPMorgan. Pinto will relinquish his function as president and COO on June 30 and retire on the finish of 2026.
The most important U.S. financial institution has rotated executives throughout divisions in recent times to provide them extra expertise.
“Piepszak has made clear her preference for a senior operating role, working closely with Jamie and in support of the top leadership and she doesn’t want to be considered for the CEO position at this time,” a financial institution spokesperson mentioned.
The chief has held main roles in her three a long time at JPMorgan. She was its finance chief from 2019 to 2021, and in addition ran card providers and enterprise banking after spending 17 years climbing the ranks in funding banking.
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The contenders for CEO now embody Marianne Lake, CEO of shopper and neighborhood banking and Troy Rohrbaugh, head of the business and funding financial institution (CIB). Doug Petno, the present co-head of worldwide banking, is one other CEO contender who will now be a part of Rohrbaugh as co-head of the CIB.
“This makes the succession at JPM murkier for longer,” mentioned Mike Mayo, banking analyst at Wells Fargo (NYSE:), who nonetheless sees Piepszak as a CEO contender. “It is a race between Lake and Piepszak, and seems like the latter got a leg up, but this is not over yet.”
Dimon’s subsequent steps have lengthy been the topic of hypothesis.
“Jamie Dimon is a tough act to follow, even though he’s done a great job shuffling top executives around to gain more experience,” mentioned David Wagner, portfolio supervisor at Aptus Capital Advisors LLC.
JPMorgan plans to separate the CEO and chairman jobs presently held by Dimon after he finally steps down, in keeping with its proxy assertion.
Dimon is credited with steering the financial institution via the 2008 monetary disaster and regional financial institution turmoil in 2023. Throughout his tenure, JPMorgan turned the most important financial institution within the U.S., far surpassing its rivals.
Pinto was beforehand cited by the board as the manager who might step in for the CEO on brief discover, like he did in 2020 when Dimon had an emergency coronary heart surgical procedure. Dimon mentioned Pinto had accomplished a “truly exceptional job” in each function he performed on the agency.
“When a CEO is at the helm for so long, many of his proteges get older and would prefer to ride off into the sunset than take on a position that they’re likely expected to be there for a decade,” Wagner added.
