First Data to Pay JPM Millions to Settle Hiring Dispute: Report

Payment processor First Data has agreed to pay JPMorgan Chase (JPM) millions of dollars in order to settle a hiring dispute, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

The trouble between the companies is rooted in a tale of two executives, according to the Journal.

JPMorgan's former co-chief operating officer, Frank Bisignano, left the bank last spring to take the helm of First Data. First Data then hired several other top JPMorgan executives in quick succession.

These departures rankled Bisignano's ex-boss, JPMorgan Chief Executive Jamie Dimon, according to the Journal. The bank accused Bisignano of violating the terms of his employment contract by recruiting former colleagues less than a year after leaving the company, the Journal reports.

First Data's owner, the private-equity firm KKR, reportedly argued that the company had solicited the new hires — not Bisignano.

Among the employees at the center of the dispute was JPMorgan's former chief information officer, Guy Chiarello. Chiarello was named as First Data's new president in July. Christine Larsen, who had served as JPMorgan's executive vice president in charge of process improvement and enterprise program management, became First Data's chief operations officer in June.

The exact amount of the settlement agreement was not disclosed in the Journal. A person familiar with the situation told the paper that the sum was under $10 million.

First Data and JPMorgan did not immediately return requests for comment.