Fresh questions over JP Morgan succession as boss Jamie Dimon recovers from heart surgery

JP Morgan’s chief executive Jamie Dimon is recovering from emergency heart surgery – shining a highlight on the bank’s succession ideas, with a British govt among the frontrunners to switch him.

Mr Dimon experienced a tear in his heart’s primary artery, which was detected early and handled effectively, JP Morgan said.

The sixty three-yr-outdated has operate the financial institution since 2005, and is the last Wall Street boss standing from in advance of the monetary disaster. He is said to be awake, warn and recovering well. JP Morgan did not say exactly where he is being handled.

The bank’s co-presidents and co-chief functioning officers, Daniel Pinto and Gordon Smith, are running JP Morgan as Mr Dimon recovers.

It focuses awareness on opportunity successors for Mr Dimon. As well as Mr Pinto and Mr Smith they also include things like consumer lending boss Marianne Lake, who grew up in the United kingdom and analyzed at the University of Looking through.

The fifty-yr-outdated solitary mother has labored at JP Morgan for 21 decades and was earlier finance director.

JP Morgan will now have to temperature its most turbulent time period since the monetary disaster without having Mr Dimon in charge, as it tries to offer with the fallout from the coronavirus. Its sector price has plunged 17pc in the last two months.  

Brian Kleinhanzl, an analyst at KBW, said: “The base line is that Mr Dimon is typically seen as a regular hand for the banking business throughout turbulent instances (like we are in now), so not possessing him at the helm… is a modest damaging.”

Mr Pinto, fifty seven, and Mr Smith, 61, are regarded as the most possible successors in the quick phrase must Mr Dimon action down.

An Argentine, Mr Pinto has used his overall 37-yr job at JP Morgan and its predecessor companies. He oversees the company and investment financial institution and has served the loan company surge to the major of Wall Street’s buying and selling and investment-banking ranks.

Mr Smith runs the consumer financial institution, which has developed to lead 50 percent of the firm’s income and has much more staff than any other division.

Mike Mayo, an analyst at Wells Fargo, said: “JP Morgan has a deep administration bench. Nevertheless, [Mr Dimon’s] industry leadership will be missed throughout this disaster-like time period.”

JP Morgan did not give any assistance on how lengthy Mr Dimon will be away. 

Examination by the American College of Cardiology described acute aortic dissection – the problem made by Mr Dimon – as “a single of the most lethal cardiovascular ailments”.

It is most typical in gentlemen in their 60s and 70s and the symptoms can typically mimic a heart attack.  If handled in time, sufferers typically devote a 7 days in hospital followed by several weeks’ recovery at property, according to medics. 

This is Mr Dimon’s second main overall health scare. In 2014, he was out of do the job for several months following staying diagnosed with throat cancer but staged a whole recovery.