JPMorgan just placed finance chief Marianne Lake in charge of a new consumer lending unit and it could be a sign she’s the CEO frontrunner

Richard Drew/AP

• JPMorgan CFO Marianne Lake has a new role in charge of an expanded consumer lending business.
• It will be the first time running a business for Lake, who is considered to be a frontrunner to replace CEO Jamie Dimon when he retires. 

JPMorgan shuffled management Wednesday, taking the chief financial officer and placing her in charge of an expanded consumer lending business and taking the head of cards and making her CFO. 

The bank said Marianne Lake, the CFO, would now be in charge of credit cards, autos and mortgage lending. She’ll report to consumer banking chief and co-president Gordon Smith, according to a statement. Dimon has historically moved executives around the bank to broaden their experience. 

Jennifer Piepszak, head of cards, will replace Lake as CFO. The changes are effective May 1. 

This will be the first time running a business unit for Lake, 49. She’s been CFO of JPMorgan since early 2013, and served as CFO of the consumer and community banking unit before that. Prior to that she was the investment bank’s comptroller. She began her career as an accountant at PricewaterhouseCoopers. 

"We are fortunate to have such an extraordinary executive taking the helm of our Consumer Lending businesses, a part of the firm she knows extremely well," CEO Jamie Dimon said about Lake in the statement. 

Read more: JPMorgan flipped the banking playbook, and it’s helped it find customers, sell more products, and build new branches

Lake has long been rumored to be a frontrunner to replace Dimon atop the bank, though speculation took a new turn last week at a Congressional hearing in Washington. When Dimon and other US bank CEO were asked by a member of Congress to raise their hands if a woman was likely to succeed them, none of them did so. 

Dimon later clarified that JPMorgan does not comment on succession plans.

"That’s a board-level issue," Dimon said on the bank’s first quarter earnings call. "But also I was confused by the question ‘likely’ without a timetable."

He added: "So, we have exceptional women. And my successor may very well be a woman and it may not. And it really depends on the circumstance…And it might be different if it’s one year from now versus five years from now."

Piepszak has run JPMorgan’s massive credit card operation, and got much of the credit for the firm’s huge success in rolling out the Sapphire Reserve card. The card proved so popular that JPMorgan briefly ran out of the metal the card is made out of. 

See also:

• For years, Chase and Citi credit cards offered a generous, under-the-radar benefit that protected customers. And then the bots arrived.
• Banks are keeping closer tabs on your reputation than ever before — and it may explain why one Sapphire Reserve cardholder mysteriously had his account shut down by Chase
• Credit-card super users are searching for answers amid a string of shutdowns from Chase, as billions in costs on lavish rewards pile up

 

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Source: Business Insider – dcampbell@businessinsider.com (Dakin Campbell)