JPMorgan Boss Says He's Not Leaving Anytime Soon

Jamie Dimon, the longtime leader of JPMorgan Chase — one of the biggest banks in the United States — said on Tuesday that his plans to leave the company as CEO have not changed. He made the comment during a call with bank analysts on July 14. Dimon was responding to questions about who will run JPMorgan after he eventually steps down. Reports say he plans to stay on as CEO for at least three more years.

JPMorgan recently made some big changes to its top leadership team. The bank named two insiders, Doug Petno and Troy Rohrbaugh, as co-presidents. A co-president is like a second-in-command, and having two of them means both men could one day be considered to take over as CEO. These moves made many people wonder whether JPMorgan was getting ready for a big leadership change.

One executive who will not be in the running is Marianne Lake. She had long been seen as one of the top candidates to replace Dimon. However, JPMorgan announced that she will be retiring. Dimon said Lake chose to leave after she heard about the plan to create two co-presidents. "When she knew about the plan, she decided she'd rather retire than stay here. That's it, no mystery," Dimon said.

Troy Rohrbaugh has taken over the consumer and community banking division, which is the part of the bank that serves everyday people and local businesses. He used to share leadership of the commercial and investment banking unit with Petno. Now Petno runs that unit on his own. Some insiders believe Rohrbaugh currently has the lead in the race to one day become CEO.

Dimon had kind words for Rohrbaugh, calling him a "culture carrier." One analyst pointed out that Rohrbaugh spent most of his career as a trader before moving into his new role. Dimon said that experience across different parts of a big company is very important. He warned that when only someone from the investment bank takes over a big financial institution, the rest of the company can suffer.

To reward Petno and Rohrbaugh for staying with the company, JPMorgan gave each of them a retention bonus of $30 million. A retention bonus is extra money paid to encourage key employees not to leave. Two other top executives, Jennifer Piepszak and Mary Erdoes, will each receive $20 million for the same reason. These large bonuses show just how important the bank considers these leaders to be.

The news about leadership came on the same day JPMorgan reported a record profit for the quarter. The bank earned more money than it ever has in a single quarter, helped by strong investment banking fees and a surge in stock trading. JPMorgan's stock price rose nearly 3% after the results were announced. It was a strong financial performance to go along with major news about the bank's future leadership.