JPMorgan Co-COO Bisignano Departs to Run First Data

JPMorgan Chase (JPM) is losing another top executive, with co-chief operating officer Frank Bisignano departing to run payment processor First Data. The move will further consolidate power in the hands of the rapidly ascending Matt Zames.

Bisignano officially joins First Data as CEO on Monday, the Atlanta company said in a announcement. Zames, who until Sunday shared the COO role with Bisignano, will become the sole executive with that title, JPMorgan Chase said Sunday.

It is the latest of several recent promotions for Zames, 42, who a year ago was sent in to mop up the bank's chief investment office after the London Whale trading losses came to light, eventually costing the bank more than $6 billion. In July, CEO Jamie Dimon promoted Zames to co-COO, giving him oversight of the bank's financial and regulatory affairs.

Zames "has performed exceptionally well since coming into his corporate role in May of last year. He'll continue to have an important impact on our company," Dimon said in a press release on Sunday.

Bisignano's departure also marks the loss of yet another top lieutenant for Dimon - and yet another management reshuffle, despite Dimon's admission last year that JPMorgan Chase has had "too much turnover" in its top ranks. That turnover included departures by Chief Investment Officer Ina Drew, former Chief Risk Officer Barry Zubrow, former investment bank head Jes Staley and former consumer bank head Charlie Scharf, who left to become CEO of Visa (NYSE:V). Dimon also promoted Marianne Lake to replace chief financial officer Doug Braunstein, who is now a vice chairman at the bank.

"Hopefully, you're going to have stability. We have got a great management team," Dimon said in January.

Although Dimon has spent most of the past year trying to move on from the trading losses, JPMorgan remains in the regulatory and reputational crosshairs. As the largest bank in the country, it has also become a main target of the vigorous legislative and regulatory push to break up the biggest banks.

On Sunday, Dimon announced other promotions in the wake of Bisignano's departure. Paul Compton, who currently shares the role of co-chief administrative officer of JPMorgan's corporate and investment bank with Louis Rauchenberger, will become chief administrative officer of the overall company, reporting to Zames. Rauchenberger will become sole CAO of the corporate and investment bank, reporting to its co-CEOs, Mike Cavanagh and Daniel Pinto.

Bisignano is a former longtime executive at Citigroup (NYSE:C) and its predecessor companies. He got his payments industry bona fides at Citi by running its massive global transaction services unit. Bisignano joined JPMorgan in 2005; Dimon put him in charge of overhauling its mortgage unit after the financial crisis.

Like Scharf, who left for Visa in the fall, Bisignano will now join a payments company that regularly does business with JPMorgan Chase. (First Data and JPMorgan once jointly operated a joint venture called Chase Paymentech.) Ed Labry, president of First Data's retail and alliance services unit, had been acting as CEO on an interim basis and will remain with the company, First Data said.

"This is a great job for me," Bisignano said in an interview Sunday evening, adding that First Data approached him less than a month ago: "I think the fit was right. We got to that conclusion very quickly."

Bisignano was also quick to praise JPMorgan and Dimon, with whom he has worked for 19 years. "He's been more than a boss, he's been a friend and a mentor to me," Bisignano said. "Anytime one of your top people can be a CEO in something he wants to do, it's rewarding."