JPMorgan Chase & Co. said Jenn Piepszak will succeed Daniel Pinto as chief operating officer but will not seek the CEO role, leaving it open to future replacements for Jamie Dimon. Jamie Dimon's race to become CEO of the largest U.S. bank just got more complicated.
JPMorgan Chase said on Tuesday that Pinto, the bank's president and chief operating officer, will step down at the end of June and retire at the end of next year.
Piepszak has been named chief operating officer, effective immediately.
The move comes a year after JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon revamped the bank's senior leadership, leading to the high-profile departures of several executives close to Pinto.
In a series of changes in January 2024, Piepszak and Troy Rohrbaugh took over responsibility for JPMorgan's expanded commercial and investment banking unit from Pinto as co-heads.
The changes have fueled speculation that Pipzak is the frontrunner to eventually succeed Dimon, one of Wall Street's most powerful men.
However, JPMorgan told the Financial Times on Tuesday that Pipzak was not seeking the top job, saying she would "prefer a senior operational role working closely with Jamie".
JPMorgan on Tuesday also named Doug Petno to replace Piepszak as co-head of commercial and investment banking alongside Rohrbaugh.
The promotion puts Petno at the top of the list of potential replacements for the 68-year-old Dimon. Other contenders are thought to be Rohrbaugh; Marianne Lake, head of JPMorgan Chase's massive consumer bank; and Mary Erdoes, head of asset and wealth management.
Lake and Erdos will continue in their current roles, the bank said.
There has long been speculation about who would succeed Dimon, and Pinto himself had been considered a candidate for the top job.
While a timetable for Dimon's departure has not yet been determined, the bank awarded Dimon a retention bonus in 2021 that will keep him at the bank until at least mid-2026.
Last May, Dimon told investors that the search for his eventual successor was "ongoing" and that his timetable for stepping down as CEO was shorter than the five-year period he had previously touted.
However, even if Dimon gives up his executive duties, he will likely remain chairman.
One senior Wall Street executive said it would be a mistake to view Tuesday's move as a promotion for any particular candidate. "Is Jamie preparing Marianne to be the next CEO? I don't think so. He doesn't want to leave."
JPMorgan pointed to Dimon's remarks at the investor day that the choice of his successor "depends on the board..." . . . When I can't put on the jersey and give my best, basically I should leave. "
The latest shakeup comes a day before JPMorgan reports fourth-quarter earnings.
The bank's net profit in the final three months of 2024 is expected to rise by nearly a third from the same period last year to $11.7 billion.
The figure is expected to be boosted by strong growth in investment banking and markets revenue, but also buoyed by a major hit in late 2023 when banks had to pay into the Federal Deposit Insurance Fund to cover the costs of regional bank failures that year.
Reporting by Peter Wells, Adam Samson, Joshua Franklin and Brooke Masters in New York and Ortenca Aliaj in London