Veteran banker ousted in reshuffle after 'greedy' comment

NEW YORK - Bill Winters, one of London's most prominent investment bankers, is leaving his job as co-chief of the JP Morgan investment bank.

Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of parent company JPMorgan Chase, announced Winters' shock departure yesterday, less than a week after Winters hit the headlines by blaming "greedy bankers" for the credit crisis.

The management reshuffle promotes Jes Staley to run the investment bank and puts him in pole position to succeed Dimon as chief executive of the company, which also includes one of America's largest retail banks.

Staley had previously been running JPMorgan Chase's asset management business.

Analysts had tipped Winters, 48, as a possible successor to Dimon. He had been at JP Morgan for 25 years, mainly on the trading side of the business.

Together with Steve Black in the US, Winters steered JP Morgan through the credit crisis without a single quarterly loss, a feat that put them in an elite group on Wall St.

Black will have a brief spell as executive chairman of the JP Morgan investment bank, before handing over to Staley.

Winters, who has long harboured ambitions to run a major company as chief executive, said he was looking forward to his "next professional challenge".

"With the credit crisis largely behind us and the economy recovering, the timing was right to begin the succession process," Dimon said.

- INDEPENDENT