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The country's largest bank promoted veteran executive Marianne Lake from its consumer and community bank, ending weeks of speculation about the fate of current CFO Doug Braunstein.
November 19 -
Bankers may have fallen out of love with the Obama administration, but they're still hoping that its next Treasury Secretary will solve some of their problems.
November 15 -
CEO Jamie Dimon named Matt Zames co-chief operating officer on Friday, igniting speculation that Zames could be a leading candidate to succeed him … some day.
July 27
Jamie Dimon won't be the next Treasury secretary — and he says he doesn't want the job, anyway.
"I don't believe I'm suited to it, I don't believe a CEO from Wall Street could get confirmed, and it's not what I want to do — I love my company," Dimon, the chief executive of JPMorgan Chase (JPM), said Wednesday.
Dimon has long been on some wish lists of industry-friendly candidates to replace current Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who is expected
Dimon, rarely one to mince words, still seems to be holding a grudge.
"My experience in life is the regulators always win anyway," he said at a
When asked about the state of his current relationship with Obama, Dimon shot back, "It's fine. … I'm still barely a Democrat."
JPMorgan Chase, the country's largest bank, has also been in the rhetorical crosshairs this year, after losing some $6 billion in trades in its London office this spring. The loss helped
"I am very proud of JPMorgan Chase … and yes, every now and then we make a mistake or we have a bad person. No one at JPMorgan Chase condones bad behavior," Dimon said. "It happens, and you can't taint every institution the same, nor should you taint everyone within an institution because of bad apples."
Starting
Dimon said Wednesday that the management changes were long planned and part of the bank's natural succession planning, though he acknowledged that the London Whale affair played a role.
"If I don't move up the people who could be my successor, I could lose them," he said. "The Whale accelerated certain things, but the actual changes had very little to do with the Whale. … It caused a little bit of turmoil, a little too much — hopefully we'll have more stability going forward –but the team itself is excellent."
Dimon also took issue with criticisms of the financial industry's lobbying clout in Washington.
The right to lobby is "in the First Amendment," he said, calling the perception that corporate interests run Washington "absurd. … We all debate. That's the political process."
He also weighed in on the hot topic of banker compensation, which has been under increasing scrutiny and regulation since the financial crisis.
"We're going to pay people well and competitively. I need to do that for my shareholders," he said.
"We all want an equitable society … but what makes it equitable?" Dimon added, in response to a question about general income inequality. "It does not mean that people don't have to pay people what they're worth. If you don't want a free society, then start dictating what compensation could be."