Dimon says JPMorgan CEO transition remains years away

• Key insight: During JPMorganChase's second-quarter earnings call, CEO Jamie Dimon addressed the executive reshuffle announced in June and said the timing of his departure remains up to the board of directors. 
• Expert quote: "The timetable is essentially the same — several years. You can use a few years. You can use plus or minus. Obviously, it's totally up to the board, not up to me." — JPMorganChase CEO Jamie Dimon
• Supporting data: Excluding several one-time items, JPMorgan's revenue increased 15% year over year, fueled by stronger markets revenue, higher investment banking fees and growth in deposits and loans.

JPMorganChase's succession plan and the timing of CEO Jamie Dimon's eventual departure dominated the bank's second-quarter earnings call on Tuesday.

Dimon declined to provide a specific timeline for stepping down, saying the transition could still be "several years" away and ultimately rests with the board of directors.

"The timetable is essentially the same — several years. You can use a few years. You can use plus or minus. Obviously, it's totally up to the board, not up to me," Dimon said during the call.

Dimon also addressed the retirement of Marianne Lake, a 27-year JPMorgan veteran who'd been widely viewed as one of the leading internal candidates to succeed him. He said her decision followed the board's move to restructure the bank's leadership by appointing two co-presidents.

"The board made a decision to go ahead with making two co-presidents," Dimon said. "We should be preparing them to do far more with the company."

Doug Petno and Troy Rohrbaugh, who have served as co-CEOs of JPMorgan's commercial and investment bank, were named co-presidents in June. The most recent president of JPMorgan was Daniel Pinto, who is expected to retire at the end of this year.

Under the leadership changes, Petno, 61, became sole CEO of the commercial and investment bank, while Rohrbaugh, 56, succeeded Lake as CEO of consumer and community banking. Analysts view both executives as leading contenders to eventually succeed Dimon, who turned 70 earlier this year.

JPMorgan Chase reported second-quarter net income of $21.2 billion, up 41%, and the largest quarterly profit ever recorded by a U.S. bank.

The increase was driven in part by one-time gains tied to Visa shares and certain equity investments. Excluding those items, the bank said profit rose 13%, reflecting continued strength in its core businesses.

Markets revenue climbed 35% to $12.1 billion, primarily driven by stronger equity trading. Despite ongoing market and geopolitical uncertainty, consumer activity remained resilient. Average deposits increased 7% year over year, while average loans rose 10%.

"The U.S. economy has demonstrated notable resiliency this year, with stronger business investment and hiring," Dimon said in a statement. "This strength is being supported by several tailwinds, including AI-driven capital investment, fiscal stimulus and the benefits of more efficient regulation."

But Dimon also cautioned that risks remain. He said geopolitical tensions, inflation and elevated asset prices "are shifting below the surface like tectonic plates," warning they could trigger significant disruptions if they "shift or collide."

JPMorgan's noninterest expenses rose 15% to $27.3 billion, driven by higher compensation, marketing, technology and occupancy costs.

Executives said the increased spending reflects the bank's continued investment in its business and argued those investments have generated strong returns.

"I've also pointed out over and over that some expenses, if you account for them as investments, have very good returns, but they're expensed in the short run," Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Barnum said during the earnings call.

Net interest income, excluding the bank's markets business, rose 4% to $23.7 billion, driven by higher deposit balances, increased revolving credit card balances and growth in wholesale loans. Those gains were partially offset by lower interest rates.

JPMorgan also raised its full-year net interest income guidance to about $96.5 billion, excluding its markets business, and approximately $105.5 billion overall. The bank's updated guidance follows a previous forecast that 2026 net interest income would reach $103 billion, or $95 billion for net interest income excluding markets.

The bank also increased its full-year expense forecast to $107.5 billion, up from $105 billion the previous quarter, citing higher volume and revenue-related costs, and lowered its projected card net charge-off rate to 3.2%, reflecting stronger-than-expected consumer credit performance.

JPMorgan executives also reiterated their opposition to the Federal Reserve's proposed changes to the capital surcharge for global systemically important banks, with Dimon calling the proposal "not fair."

"They should adjust the GSIB the way they're supposed to going back to 2015, and they should change the way they're doing short-term wholesale funding to be fair to everybody," he said. "Those are the things they should do. The number should be the number. If they think we should have more capital, they should ask us to hold 10% more, and I'd be happy to do that. But I'm not happy to have these numbers falsely done."

In separate comment letters submitted June 18, JPMorgan and Bank of America said the central bank did not provide sufficient justification for removing risk-weighted assets from the denominator of the short-term wholesale funding component of the GSIB surcharge. The banks argued the change could distort how reliance on short-term wholesale funding is measured and produce uneven outcomes across the largest U.S. banks.

The comment letters came in response to a package of proposed revisions to capital requirements that were released in March by U.S. banking regulators. The proposals include changes to the implementation of remaining Basel III standards, revisions to the GSIB surcharge framework and updates to the standardized approach for calculating regulatory capital requirements.