JPMorgan Promotes Erik Bisso to Run CIO in North America

JPMorgan Chase (JPM) named Erik Bisso to run the bank's chief investment office for North America, filling a vacancy created last year when Irene Tse left to start a hedge fund.

Bisso, 34, was in charge of agency mortgage-backed securities pass-through trading for the New York-based bank, according to an internal memo sent today, a copy of which was obtained by Bloomberg News. Bill Anast will join JPMorgan in August to replace Bisso and head agency mortgage trading, a person familiar with the matter said. Anast previously ran the agency collateralized-mortgage obligation business for Barclays Plc.

JPMorgan, led by Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon, has shaken up the CIO's top management after coming under scrutiny last year because of botched bets in credit derivatives by U.K.- based trader Bruno Iksil. Nicknamed the London Whale because his positions were big enough to move the market, Iksil's trades cost the bank $6.2 billion.

Bisso's appointment "demonstrates our ongoing commitment to developing senior talent and encouraging mobility across the firm," Matt Cherwin, head of securitized products, and Craig Delany, who runs the global chief investment office, wrote in the memo.

Liz Seymour, a spokeswoman for JPMorgan, and Barclays's Brandon Ashcraft declined to comment on the moves.

Former Chief Investment Officer Ina Drew, 56, retired four days after Dimon, 57, announced the initial losses in May of last year.

Tse, who left the bank last year, was among multiple executives hired by Drew after Dimon cleared the way for the CIO to invest in riskier securities, a half-dozen former and current executives said last year. Achilles Macris, 51, who had been Tse's counterpart in London until his departure in July, joined the bank in 2006 to help bolster its credit-trading operation. Iksil, who also left that month, reported to Macris.

Co-Chief Operating Officer Matthew Zames, 42, ran the division for four months after Drew's departure, until Delany was named to head the group in September.