By Manya Saini and Nupur Anand
July 14 (Reuters) – JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon said on Tuesday that the timetable for his departure as CEO remained unchanged, in response to an analyst’s question about the bank’s succession plan.
The bank’s plan to name Dimon’s successor has been in focus after it appointed insiders Doug Petno and Troy Rohrbaugh as co-presidents last month and announced the retirement of senior executive Marianne Lake, who was widely seen as a top contender for the CEO role.
“The timing (for succession) is essentially the same, obviously completely up to the board,” Dimon told analysts on a post-earnings conference call. “The board made a decision to go ahead with making two co-presidents, which will prepare them to do far more at the company.”
Reuters reported last month that Dimon planned to remain CEO for at least three more years.
Analysts viewed the promotions of Petno and Rohrbaugh as a step toward clarifying JPMorgan’s succession plan, narrowing the list of executives seen as potential successors to Dimon after more than two decades as CEO.
“When she (Lake) knew about the plan, she decided she’d rather retire than stay here. That’s it, no mystery,” Dimon said.
In the latest top-level changes, Rohrbaugh took over as CEO of the consumer and community banking business from Lake. He was previously co-CEO with Petno of the commercial and investment banking unit, which will now be solely headed by Petno.
Rohrbaugh is a “culture carrier,” Dimon said, in response to Wells Fargo analyst Mike Mayo’s comment on Rohrbaugh spending much of his career as a trader before taking over the new role.
“I do think it’s very important that people have experience across the company,” he said, adding that when a big bank is taken over by someone only from the investment bank, the rest of the franchise can suffer.
Rohrbaugh is seen as having the lead internally, Reuters has reported, citing sources.
JPMorgan has awarded Petno and Rohrbaugh retention bonuses of $30 million each, while COO Jennifer Piepszak and asset and wealth management CEO Mary Erdoes will each get $20 million.
Dimon’s remarks followed a bumper quarter for JPMorgan, which posted record quarterly profit as investment banking fees and stock trading surged. The stock was last up nearly 3% in late-morning trading.
(Reporting by Manya Saini in Bengaluru and Nupur Anand in New York; Editing by Joyjeet Das and Anil D’Silva)
