NEW YORK — In an effort to tie its consumer businesses closer together, JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) promoted Matthew Biben to the new position of general counsel of all of its consumer businesses.
It is important for JPMorgan to "integrate the controls for these businesses," the bank's general counsel Steve Cutler wrote in a memorandum.
Biben was hired last year as general counsel for the mortgage business, where JPMorgan Chase struggled with a slew of operational and regulatory issues tied to botched foreclosures. He "quickly added value, using his extensive experience to manage many of the complex regulatory challenges we face," Cutler said in his memo Tuesday.
Biben will report to Cutler. He was an assistant U.S. Attorney in the criminal division, and chief litigation counsel of Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (BK), where he helped the bank turn a $22.7 billion lawsuit brought by the Russian Federation into a $14 million settlement in 2009. He joined JPMorgan from Next Jump Inc., a technology company, where he was chief administrative officer and general counsel.
JPMorgan last year changed senior management for some of its consumer businesses, and restructured its consumer banking divisions.
Frank Borchert, general counsel of the credit card business; Jeff Levine, general counsel of auto finance and student lending; and Michael Lipsitz; general counsel of consumer and business banking, will now report to Biben.
Bloomberg earlier reported the appointment.
