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If banking is under attack, then chief financial officers are the defenders of the realm. Equipped with the numbers, they are uniquely positioned to bring the credible answers their stakeholders seek and the changes their companies need.
May 3
JPMorgan Chase's chief executive officer told analysts Tuesday that he may stop participating in the firm's quarterly earnings conference call, letting Chief Financial Officer Marianne Lake do all the talking from now on.
"Don't be surprised one of these days if I don't show up don't read anything into it" or assume he's hiding from bad news, Dimon said at the end of Tuesday's call. Lake does "such a good job, that I've become unnecessary to be on all of them, and I can obviously go do other things."
Lake, who is on the New York-based firm's operating committee, is often mentioned as a possible successor for Dimon, who has said he wants to keep the top job another five years.
Dimon, 59, has made headlines for his outspoken opinions on regulators, competitors and economic policy. In an April 2012 conference call, the CEO dismissed reports that derivatives bets were distorting credit indexes, calling the controversy a "tempest in a teapot." Those words came back to haunt him as that year's losses from the so-called London Whale ballooned to $6.2 billion.
Among leaders of the five largest U.S. banks by assets, only Goldman Sachs Group Inc. CEO Lloyd Blankfein skips the quarterly call where analysts grill executives on results and guidance.
