Business
JPMorgan’s looming question: What happens when CEO Jamie Dimon leaves?
As Wall Street’s top bankers huddled in New York last month, preparing to convince Elon Musk’s SpaceX that they should be chosen to lead its upcoming IPO, one firm wasn’t letting its star advisor miss the bake-off.
Among the squad of JPMorgan Chase investment bankers flying 2,500 miles west to California to pitch SpaceX was the lender’s boss, billionaire CEO Jamie Dimon, people with knowledge of the trip told CNBC.
The morning after that pitch meeting, on Dec. 19, Dimon was already back in his customary early Friday perch: sitting in his bank’s New York lobby, taking meetings in full view of the thousands of employees streaming through the building’s turnstiles.
The whirlwind few days highlight the reality of Dimon’s singular impact on JPMorgan, the world’s largest bank by market capitalization.
Dimon marks his 20th anniversary as CEO this month and remains deeply involved across the sprawling businesses of JPMorgan, a giant across Wall Street and Main Street with $4.6 trillion in assets. Half a dozen executives across investment banking, asset management and consumer banking echoed that view.
Which makes the inevitable questions surrounding Dimon’s tenure loom large as he approaches 70 years of age. Dimon has for years maintained, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, that his retirement was perpetually 5 years away. In 2024, for the first time, he acknowledged that window was shrinking.
Will JPMorgan’s era of dominance be over when Dimon exits as CEO?
“Given his track record, anybody else would be a downgrade,” said Ben Mackovak, a bank board member and investor through his firm Strategic Value Bank Partners.
“I’m sure somebody else could grow into the role and surprise people,” Mackovak said. “But on day one, no one is going to be as qualified to run that bank as Jamie.”
Jamie Dimon, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co., attends the ribbon-cutting ceremony opening the firm’s new headquarters at 270 Park Avenue, in New York City, U.S., October 21, 2025.
Eduardo Munoz | Reuters
In two decades, Dimon took a middle-of-the-pack American lender and, with his unique combination of judgment, paranoia, attention to detail and scope of vision, created a juggernaut of finance that the world hadn’t seen before.
During calm times, he invested aggressively for the future, and during periods of tumult, like 2008 and 2023, he avoided pitfalls that consumed other banks, allowing him to snap up three failed institutions.
Over the past 20 years, the bank’s annual net income soared more than 500% to $58.5 billion in 2024. The firm reports full-year 2025 results on Tuesday.
Now, at a market cap of roughly $900 billion, JPMorgan is worth nearly as much as the next three largest U.S. banks combined: Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo.
Besides running JPMorgan, Dimon has taken on an outsized role in global finance as a top voice explaining market gyrations or emerging risks and influencing regulators amid policy shifts. It was Dimon’s recession warning on a Fox News segment in April that helped convince President Donald Trump to pivot on his trade policy, igniting a historic relief rally.
“It’s just the aura he has, the credibility that he’s built up in the markets,” said Fitch Ratings analyst Chris Wolfe. “The minute you step out of that role, it’s not like you can just hand that over, your successor doesn’t automatically inherit that. I think that’s the real challenge.”
Potential successors
The question of who could take over for Dimon — who was already a cancer survivor when he nearly died in 2020 from a ruptured aorta — has been openly discussed among investors for more than a decade.
To investors, his most likely successor is currently Marianne Lake, head of the firm’s giant consumer bank and former CFO of the company, followed by Doug Petno and Troy Rohrbaugh, the co-heads of the firm’s commercial and investment bank.
Marianne Lake, chief financial officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Jin Lee | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Other contenders include asset and wealth management head Mary Erdoes and CFO Jeremy Barnum.
“If investors were to do a straw poll today, they’d probably pick Marianne,” said Truist bank analyst Brian Foran.
“The running joke is that she’s a human supercomputer when it comes to banking,” Foran said. “Really, the only question mark people have about her is, she’s so analytical, can she do the kind of ‘rah-rah’ stuff to inspire the sales force?”
Wells Fargo banking analyst Mike Mayo hypothesized that JPMorgan stock could immediately drop 5% if Dimon were to suddenly exit, regardless of the named replacement. (The bank has said Dimon would serve as chairman even after relinquishing the CEO role.)
It’s a somewhat common occurrence on Wall Street for companies with iconic CEOs: The stock premium shrinks, at least for a period, when their longtime leaders announce their departures. For instance, Berkshire Hathaway shares trailed the S&P 500 last year after Warren Buffett said he was stepping down as CEO.
‘Never going to quit’
When asked about CEO succession, JPMorgan executives say that Dimon is as plugged in as ever, and unlikely to step down soon.
Depending on how long he sticks around, that means it’s not necessarily his current direct reports like Lake, Petno and Rohrbaugh who are in line, but more junior executives now being groomed and evaluated for leadership roles, they told CNBC.
“There’s a lot of work going into imagining that day without him,” said a JPMorgan executive who asked not to be named speaking about his boss. “If he stays until he’s 85, it’s not his direct reports that are going to be next in line, its maybe one or two levels down from today.”
“Does he leave a huge vacuum? Yes,” said the executive. “It’s not fatal, though, because we’ve been planning for it. I think there’s combinations of people that together can create the same outcome.”
The CEO of a commercial bank and former JPMorgan executive, who described Dimon as a mentor, also said he didn’t think Dimon would step down soon.
“Jamie’s never going to quit,” said the CEO, who asked for anonymity to speak candidly. “What else would he do where he’s as important as he is now? His friends are all people from work. He loves it.”
Still, beyond the day-to-day management of a company with 318,000 employees, Dimon seems intent on setting up JPMorgan for a future without him.
Legacy values
In recent months, Dimon oversaw the completion of the bank’s new $3 billion headquarters in midtown Manhattan and announced a $1.5 trillion initiative to bolster industries crucial to U.S. interests.
And, perhaps most crucially, he continues to instill his values into the firm’s management team.
Last year, at a conference for JPMorgan’s top 400 executives, Dimon rattled off a list of once-great companies that died though mismanagement. Finance is especially prone to this threat, because of the temptation to manipulate numbers for short-term gain, he said.
“Travelers blew up. Citi blew up, twice. Bear Stearns failed, Lehman failed, I’m here because Bank One screwed up a bunch of businesses,” Dimon said, referring to a predecessor firm to JPMorgan.
“If you look at these things, it’s complacency, it’s bureaucracy, it’s arrogance. A lot of it is dishonest numbers. Failure to set standards,” Dimon said. “These are the cancers that kill companies.”
Nobody knows when Dimon’s last day as CEO will come, except to know that it is approaching. After adjusting his standard 5-year retirement answer to hint at a sooner departure, Dimon hasn’t advanced that clock any further.
“As great as he is, he can’t do this forever,” said Barclays banking analyst Jason Goldberg. “Every day that passes, you’re a day closer to the end.”
— CNBC’s Gabriel Cortes contributed to this report.
Business
PMI watch: India’s services growth eases in February as demand softens, costs rise – The Times of India
India’s services sector growth eased marginally in February as new business expansion slowed to a 13-month low, reflecting softer demand conditions and a rise in inflation, according to a monthly survey released on Wednesday. The seasonally adjusted HSBC India Services PMI Business Activity Index edged down to 58.1 in February from 58.5 in January. In PMI terminology, readings above 50 denote expansion, while those below 50 indicate contraction. “India’s Services PMI registered 58.1 in February, largely unchanged from January’s 58.5, signalling another month of robust expansion in the sector.” “While new order growth slowed to a 13-month low amid rising competition, service providers saw a notable pick-up in international sales and responded with increased hiring to meet operational needs,” said Pranjul Bhandari, Chief India Economist at HSBC. According to respondents, some firms benefited from stronger client enquiries and targeted marketing efforts, which supported sales. However, others reported that an increasingly competitive landscape limited the pace of growth. External demand stood out during the month. Services companies recorded improved business from several overseas markets, including Canada, Germany, mainland China, Singapore, the UAE, the UK and the US. Overall, international sales rose at the quickest pace since last August. Cost pressures intensified for service providers in February. Operating expenses increased at the sharpest rate in two-and-a-half years, prompting firms to raise their selling prices at the fastest pace in six months. “Input and output price inflation accelerated, with firms passing higher expenses — particularly for food and labour — on to customers, yet business confidence climbed to its highest level in a year as companies looked to broaden their market presence,” Bhandari said. At the combined level, private sector activity strengthened further. Total business output across manufacturing and services expanded at the fastest rate in three months, supported by improved demand and higher new business inflows. The HSBC India Composite PMI Output Index climbed to 58.9 in February from 58.4 in January. “Overall, the composite PMI rose to 58.9, reflecting the fastest pace of private sector activity growth in three months, buoyed by strong momentum in manufacturing,” Bhandari said. Composite PMI figures represent weighted averages of manufacturing and services indicators, with the weights reflecting their respective shares in official GDP data. While the pace of new order growth at the composite level was broadly similar to that seen around the start of the year, hiring activity strengthened to its highest level since last October. Inflationary trends were also evident in the broader private sector, with both input costs and output charges rising at quicker rates. These increases reached nine-month and six-month highs, respectively.
Last Updated:
India’s Sensex and Nifty correct 6-7%, with 80% of stocks in bear territory. Monarch AIF reports 64% of stocks over Rs 1,000 crore market cap has fallen 30%.
Hundreds of midcap and smallcap companies have quietly lost significant value.
India’s benchmark indices may not show it, but a large part of the market is already in deep correction. According to a report by Monarch AIF, while the Sensex and Nifty have corrected only about 6-7 per cent from their record highs, nearly 80 per cent of listed stocks are already in bear market territory.
The data highlights a sharp divergence between headline indices and the broader market.
Majority of Stocks Deep In Correction
The report analysed companies with a market capitalisation above Rs 1,000 crore.
It found that over 64 per cent of these stocks have fallen more than 30 per cent from their all-time highs. Nearly 78 per cent have declined over 20 per cent.
In simple terms, most stocks in the market have already seen a brutal correction even though benchmark indices remain relatively elevated.
This unusual divergence has been playing out for the past 18 months.
Why Indices Are Still Holding Up
According to the report, Indian markets are witnessing a rare phase of simultaneous time and value correction.
A narrow set of large-cap stocks has kept the benchmark indices elevated. Meanwhile, hundreds of midcap and smallcap companies have quietly lost significant value.
This has created a misleading picture where the indices appear stable but the broader market has been under sustained pressure.
Now A New Shock: Middle East War
The situation has become more complicated after the recent escalation in West Asia.
Following US-Israel strikes on Iran, global markets have turned volatile and crude oil prices have surged.
Amid these developments, the Sensex recently fell over 1,000 points, while the Nifty slipped below the 24,900 level.
For investors, the challenge is that a market already weakened by months of selling is now facing geopolitical risks and a potential oil shock.
Should Investors Buy Or Wait?
Aakash Shah, Technical Research Analyst at Choice Equity Broking, advised caution. “Amid persistent global uncertainties and elevated volatility, market participants are advised to maintain discipline and adopt a selective approach, focusing on fundamentally strong stocks during corrective phases. Fresh long positions should ideally be considered only after a decisive and sustained breakout above the 25,000 mark on the Nifty, which would signal improving sentiment and confirm the development of a stronger bullish structure,” he said.
Key Risk For India: Rising Oil
V K Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Investments, said the biggest concern for India is rising crude prices.
“With the war escalating and crude rising, markets are going into a period of heightened uncertainty. Nobody knows how long this conflict will go on and what will be the extent of the havoc it could wreck. From the perspective of India, which relies on imports for around 85% of her oil requirements, the real concern is the potential inflation and its consequences on economic growth. From the market perspective, the impact of potentially widening trade deficit, depreciating currency, higher inflation and perhaps lower growth is the real issue. If this fear materialises, corporate earnings will be impacted,” he said.
However, he added that the impact may be temporary if the conflict ends quickly.
“If it ends in, say 3 to 4 weeks, things will be back to normal,” he said.
Don’t Panic, Use Corrections
Despite the volatility, Vijayakumar advised investors not to panic. “Experience tells us that panicking and getting out of the market during uncertain times like these is not the right thing to do. Markets have an uncanny ability to surprise and climb all walls of worries,” he said.
According to him, investors with a long investment horizon and higher risk appetite can gradually accumulate quality stocks during corrections.
He added that sectors such as banking, pharmaceuticals, automobiles and defence may offer attractive long-term opportunities.
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March 04, 2026, 13:39 IST
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