Morning Coffee: Maybe JPMorgan's Daniel Pinto didn't want to return to the office? Goldman Sachs matches JPMorgan bonuses
It's been a long time. - After 40 years at JPMorgan, Daniel Pinto is taking his extraordinary brain elsewhere.
Pinto, who ran the investment bank from 2014 and then the entire bank when Jamie Dimon's aorta split in 2020, but who is currently president and COO, is ceding his positions in June 2025. The Wall Street Journal says he will then retire at the end of 2026.
The timing of Pinto's exit has led to facetious suggestions that he didn't want to return to the office five days a week along with all the other JPMorgan employees. This seems unlikely given that Pinto was almost certainly in the office five days a week already, but it's worth observing that he enjoyed some unorthodox work arrangements in the past.
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When Pinto was running the investment bank, for example, he insisted upon being based in London and commuting into New York. When he was first promoted to that role, Pinto said JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon assumed he'd move to New York. Pinto told Dimon he'd like to stay in London and to commute to New York 60% of the time. "I have no issue with New York. I love New York, but I love living in London with my family," declared Pinto in a 2019 interview with Brunswick Magazine. "I’ve been living there for 23 years. London is the second-biggest financial center in the world and it is an amazing city—the culture, the quality of restaurants, the quality of life." Dimon accepted his proposition.
When Pinto became COO in 2021, though, there was no escaping New York. He was finally transplanted from London and has been there ever since. Even if Pinto isn't leaving JPMorgan because of the mandatory return to the office, therefore, it's conceivable that he's going because he wants to be in London again.
The other suspicion is that Pinto is leaving JPMorgan because it's clear that - aged 61, he's unlikely to replace Jamie Dimon as CEO. When Dimon restructured the investment bank early last year, the Financial Times noted that Pinto's people - Marc Badrichani, Takis Georgakopoulos and Vis Raghavan - didn't get big roles. They've all left the bank since.
The final possibility is that Pinto was always planning to go. After 40 years and pay of $600k+ in cash per month, he can afford to. He reportedly declared in 2022 that he wouldn't see the decade out at JPMorgan. Maybe five days a week in the New York office were still the final nudge?
Separately, with JPMorgan reportedly increasing bonuses by 15%, Bank of America increasing bonuses by 10% and Morgan Stanley's bonus round inconclusive, Financial News reports that Goldman Sachs will be aligning itself with JPMorgan. - Sources at the bank say bonuses are expected to rise by 15% there too.
Meanwhile....
Jenn Piepszak is taking over from Daniel Pinto as COO at JPMorgan, but she doesn't want to be CEO (or at least this is what she's saying). “Jenn has made clear her preference for a senior operating role working closely with Jamie and in support of the leadership team going forward and said she does not want to be considered for the CEO position at this time.” No one knows when Jamie Dimon plans to retire: at an annual investment meeting in May, Dimon said “the timetable isn’t five years any more.” (Financial Times)
Doug Petno will replace Piepszak as co-head of the commercial and investment bank, alongside Troy Rohrbaugh. (Financial Times)
Why the immediate and public declaration that Peipszak had no interest in competing for Dimon’s seat? There was a danger that her promotion would lead people inside and outside the bank to assume Piepszak had sealed the deal as CEO-in-waiting. (Bloomberg)
Top BlackRock executive Mark Wiedman is also departing and is leaving $8m of stock options on the table. In a regulatory filing last year, he was described as one of three “senior leaders who we believe will play critical roles in BlackRock’s future." (Financial Times)
Bankers are unchained by MAGA 2. “I feel liberated. We can say ‘retard’ and ‘pussy’ without the fear of getting cancelled . . . it’s a new dawn.” (Financial Times)
Citi is cutting pension contributions for high earners on $200k+ from $21k to no more than $12k as it cuts costs. (Bloomberg)
UniCredit is to return previously outsourced back-office activities for securities services inhouse, creating more than 140 new jobs in Germany. (Finextra)
The pass rate for the most recent CFA Level 1 exam was 43% on average, but first-timers achieved 49%, while those with at least one deferral had a 29% pass rate. (Bloomberg)
Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan talks fast. “That’s part of being one of eight kids.” He's also friends with King Charles. “His knowledge is very deep. His ability to get people to work together and his belief in the private sector . . . made it unique...I see him a lot. He’s a great person, and we’ve enjoyed getting to know each other.” (Financial Times)
Boaz Weinstein is on a mission. In remarks seemingly addressed to Douglas Brodie, manager of Edinburgh Worldwide, he said his trust had underperformed the benchmark by 52.8% over three years, in spite of holding SpaceX, whose valuation has soared. “I want to understand how it’s actually possible to do this badly.” (The Times)
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