Saturday, July 28, 2012

Management shake-up at JPMorgan; Zames is COO

NEW YORK (AP) ? JPMorgan Chase, which is reeling from the fallout of a big trading loss at one of its divisions, announced a broad reshuffling of its top management on Friday.

It was the second round of management reorganization at the nation's largest bank since it revealed the loss that has ballooned to up to $5.8 billion from an initial estimate of $2 billion. The loss has prompted two congressional hearings and led to investigations from international regulators.

The loss has also come to represent the risky bets taken at large banks that can jeopardize the global financial system, barely four years after the financial crisis that hurtled the country into the deepest recession since the Great Depression.

It was also viewed as a glaring example of how difficult it is to run a large bank with large far flung businesses. It has led to calls to break up the big banks and also for the resignation of CEO Jamie Dimon, who up until then had built a reputation as a steady leader. Dimon initially called the trade a "tempest in a teapot," before backtracking and revealing the scope of losses and apologizing several times for his mischaracterization.

The management announcements on Friday appear to be the bank's attempt to restore the investors' trust in the bank.

"Today's appointments are a natural step in aligning our businesses more closely to make our company even stronger," said Dimon in a statement.

Its stock rose 4 cents to $36.85 in morning trading on Friday. They are still down 21 percent from their 52-week high of $46.49 in late March.

Among the appointments announced Friday, the biggest promotion went to Matt Zames who takes on the title of chief operating officer. It is being read on Wall Street as the clearest sign yet that he is being groomed to succeed Dimon.

Zames' career has recently been on an upward trajectory. Until the trading loss was announced on May 10, 41-year-old Zames was co-head of global fixed income at the investment bank. He was promoted soon after to replace Ina Drew, the chief investment officer who oversaw the division where the loss occurred. Drew resigned in the days after the loss was revealed.

Zames will share the role with Frank Bisignano who is also chief administrative officer at the firm. Bisignano was tapped last year to lead the beleaguered mortgage banking business, which had contributed to major losses for the bank and also embarrassments when it was found out that that division had unlawfully foreclosed on homes of service members while on active duty.

Among other appointments were:

? Todd Maclin, head of the retail bank, and Gordon Smith who heads up credit cards, will become co-CEOs of Consumer & Community Banking.

? Jes Staley, CEO of the investment bank, has been named to the newly-created position of chairman of JPMorgan's corporate & investment bank.

? Mike Cavanagh and Daniel Pinto have been named to be co-CEOs of the corporate & investment bank.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-07-27-JPMorgan%20Chase-Personnel/id-4b2a14c69f474f9fa57eb552dc75db36

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