JPM JP Morgan Chase and Co

By Orla McCaffrey and David Benoit 

Daniel Pinto and Gordon Smith had a message to deliver to JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s investment bankers at a meeting Friday morning following Chief Executive James Dimon's emergency heart surgery: Get to work.

For now, the bankers and the rest of JPMorgan's more than 250,000 employees are working for Messrs. Pinto and Smith.

The JPMorgan co-presidents took the helm at America's largest bank Thursday after Mr. Dimon suffered an acute aortic dissection -- a rare and often fatal heart injury. Mr. Dimon is "recovering well" after a successful surgery, the bank said in a memo to employees. Meanwhile, Messrs. Pinto and Smith are in charge.

Mr. Smith, who runs JPMorgan's consumer bank, and Mr. Pinto, the head of its corporate and investment bank, have been at Mr. Dimon's right hand since January 2018, when he named them co-presidents and laid the foundation for a succession plan that was set in motion Thursday.

For now, it is a temporary arrangement. But should his illness cause Mr. Dimon to step down for good, Messrs. Pinto and Smith are at the top of the list to replace him.

Mr. Pinto, 57, oversees JPMorgan's deal-making, trading and corporate-advisory business. He is also responsible for the bank's treasury-services business, which manages cash for global corporations and other financial institutions.

A native of Argentina, Mr. Pinto got his start in the banking business in his early 20s working as a currency trader at Manufacturers Hanover Corp. in Buenos Aires. He needed a job to pay his university tuition following a stint in the country's army during the Falklands War. (Manufacturers Hanover is one of the many banks that ultimately became part of what is now JPMorgan.)

After being named sole CEO of JPMorgan's corporate bank in 2014, Mr. Pinto convinced Mr. Dimon to allow him to commute to New York from his home in London.

Mr. Smith, 61, oversees JPMorgan's consumer bank and its thousands of Chase branches, as well as its credit-card, mortgage and auto-lending businesses. Some 61 million U.S. households do business with Chase.

Mr. Dimon, 63, recruited Mr. Smith from American Express Co. in 2007 to grow Chase's credit-card business. Mr. Smith has guided Chase through a major expansion. The consumer bank now accounts for just under half of the bank's revenue.

Last year, Wells Fargo & Co.'s board approached Mr. Smith about its open CEO job, but he decided to stay put.

All told, Messrs. Pinto and Smith are responsible for about 80% of the bank's business. In their role as co-presidents and co-chief operating officers, they also manage most of the bank's day-to-day operations. For their services, they each took home $22.5 million in 2019.

The two men have long been considered potential successors to Mr. Dimon, should he retire in the near term. Mr. Dimon has given no indication he is ready to step down; earlier this year, he said he had about five years left in the job.

If Mr. Dimon sticks to that timeline, the top contenders to succeed him are Marianne Lake, who runs JPMorgan's consumer-lending business, and Chief Financial Officer Jennifer Piepszak. JPMorgan elevated the women, both 50, last year in a reshuffling that signaled their status as possible successors.

Yet if Mr. Dimon's sudden illness accelerates his plans, it could put the co-presidents in contention to take over permanently as co-CEOs.

Such arrangements are rare but not unheard of, and they don't always work. Salesforce.com co-CEO Keith Block resigned last month after sharing the post with founder Marc Benioff for 18 months.

For now, JPMorgan still has one CEO: Mr. Dimon. He was in good condition Friday morning, according to a person familiar with the matter, well enough to call into the office.

Write to Orla McCaffrey at orla.mccaffrey@wsj.com and David Benoit at david.benoit@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 06, 2020 15:23 ET (20:23 GMT)

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