British banking executive Marianne Lake is among the leading candidates set to take over from Jamie Dimon as chief executive of JP Morgan after a reshuffle of the US giant’s leadership.
Dimon, the legendary 67-year-old who has run the bank since 2005, rejigged his top team and consolidated some of the firm’s divisions last week, lining up successors for when he ultimately retires.
He gave new roles to Jennifer Piepszak, Marianne Lake and Troy Rohrbaugh. These three are currently the top contenders to become CEO, according to media reports.
Rohrbaugh, most recently co-head of JP Morgan’s trading business, and Piepszak will together lead a consolidated commercial and investment banking unit, while Lake will become the sole chief of the consumer division after previously sharing the position with Piepszak.
Lake would become the second ever woman to run a Wall Street bank if she takes over from Dimon, after Scot Jane Fraser – the current CEO of Citigroup.
Lake was born in the US to an American mother and British father. She moved to Britain aged two and obtained a physics degree from Reading University before training at accountancy firm PwC.
She joined JP Morgan’s London office in 2000 and moved to its headquarters in New York four years later.
Lake became the firm’s chief financial officer in 2012 – a scandalous year which saw one of JP Morgan’s traders, Bruno Iksil, lose the bank more than $6bn. Dimon’s pay was cut in half that year to make up for the loss.
Lake was put in charge of consumer lending in 2019 before heading up the retail banking business with close friend Piepszak from 2021.
Other leading candidates to succeed Dimon include payments head Takis Georgakopoulos and commercial banking chief executive Doug Petno.
Whoever eventually takes up the reigns will have big shoes to fill. Dimon, who could earn some $50m if he stays with JP Morgan until 2026, has led the firm to become by far America’s most profitable and – by market capitalisation – valuable bank.
Dimon is also the longest-serving chief executive of any Wall Street bank.
