(Fortune) - The long-running refrain about when JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon will retire has been “five years”—unchanged during the nearly two decades he’s run the $570 billion bank. Accordingly, he sent shock waves through the business community earlier this year when he announced at an investor event that the timeline was “not five years anymore.”
In an interview on Wednesday with CNBC, Dimon, who turned 68 in March, confirmed that he will, indeed, retire at some point.
“Eventually, I have to leave—I know that,” he said. “We’ve got great people out there.”
He also confirmed that the bank’s emergency CEO successor remains Daniel Pinto, calling him the “hit by a bus” pick. A native of Argentina, Pinto was named copresident and chief operating officer of JPM in January 2018, and became president and COO in January 2022. According to Dimon, the bank’s leaders are “exceptional,” and not just in business. “Their heart, their curiosity, and the respect—they engender respect from our employees, our customers,” making them a cut above, he said. It will make the board’s succession planning run smoothly.
Dimon also hinted that he might stick around as chairman for a year or two before he fully departs from the company, but said JPMorgan’s board members would ultimately make that call. “I have a while to go before I’m out of the company,” he added.
Succession planning at large-cap companies is often an important issue for investors, and JPM is no different, particularly given Dimon’s high profile among clients and the public. His timeline took on additional importance following Morgan Stanley’s 2023 announcement that new CEO Ted Pick would take over for James Gorman, who led the bank for 14 years. Dimon also suffered an aortic tear in 2020 that nearly killed him, bringing into even sharper relief the need for stability in the CEO transition.
Analyst Mike Mayo, a favorite of Dimon’s, said on CNBC that Dimon has two years left on his contract and noted that plenty of institutional investors query him about succession planning at the bank. In fact, given Dimon’s recent public comments about the need for more collaboration in crafting public policy, it may be that he could get more closely involved in politics. For his part, Dimon has remained noncommittal; he did not endorse a presidential candidate and would only say that he “loves what he’s doing” when asked whether he might be interested in government service.
Still, “he didn’t say no,” said Mayo. “So that certainly comes to the fore a little more during an election period like that.”
Mayo estimated that if Dimon left, JPMorgan Chase stock would drop about 5%, shaving $25 billion off the bank’s market cap, making Dimon “the $25 billion man.” However, Dimon’s public comments, including in a recent Washington Post op-ed and his CEO letters have also indicated a willingness to personally invest in a public service role.
In his April 2024 letter to investors, Dimon wrote: “Heart cannot be overstated” when it comes to leadership.
“Heart matters,” Dimon wrote. “And it makes a difference when people know and see that you actually care.”
By Amanda Gerut
