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[Scoop] J.P. Morgan Hopes to Heal N.Y.-London Lacerations

本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛J.P. Morgan Hopes to Heal N.Y.-London Lacerations

By CARRICK MOLLENKAMP and DAVID ENRICH

As the new head of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.'s investment bank, Jes Staley will have a tough task besides overseeing deals. He now is responsible for quelling long-simmering tensions between the bank's New York and London offices.

But it could take work for Mr. Staley on both sides of the Atlantic. This week, he jumped right into the mission.

Mr. Staley, named chief executive of the investment bank on Tuesday, huddled with New York colleagues that day. Then he took a red-eye flight to London to meet Wednesday with employees, including the man he is succeeding, Bill Winters.

In a surprise executive change at J.P. Morgan, Chief Executive James Dimon on Tuesday named the 52-year-old Mr. Staley to replace the current co-heads of the investment bank: Mr. Winters, who oversees a loyal band of employees in London and now is leaving the bank, and Steve Black, the New York-based chief who plans to retire next year..

Mr. Staley will need to protect J.P. Morgan's strong position in London and throughout Europe, which the bank bolstered when rivals such as Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC fell by the wayside, were sold or sought government aid.

People familiar with the situation said that Mr. Staley needs to focus on ensuring that employees such as Viswas Raghavan, head of international capital markets in London, remain at the bank. Mr. Raghavan declined to comment through a spokesman. Separately, Mr. Staley faces a key choice about the future of J.P. Morgan's joint venture with old-line British corporate broker Cazenove Group Ltd.

J.P. Morgan has the right to exit the venture, called J.P. Morgan Cazenove, in February. Mr. Staley hasn't decided what course to take, a person familiar with the venture said.

A spokeswoman for the venture says, "Neither party has expressed its intentions as to whether or not it will exercise its call or put option" and that decisions would be made in the best interests of shareholders, clients and staff.
[jes staley and j.p.morgan] J.P. Morgan

Jes Staley was named Tuesday to replace the current co-heads of J.P. Morgan's investment bank.

Tensions between J.P. Morgan's London and New York offices were on display this summer. In June, the Reputation Risk Committee for Europe, which is charged with helping safeguard the bank against transactions that could tarnish the bank's image, approved a transaction. Then bankers in New York second-guessed that decision.

According to a person familiar with the panel, London was set up as a global hub for the committee, though panels also operate regionally. Legal, compliance, public relations, and tax executives serve on the committee which meets largely ad-hoc to review transactions on a case-by-case basis. If a deal is seen as problematic, terms might be changed -- or it could be shot down entirely.

The problem is that if a transaction is changed or shot down, it could prove embarrassing and a bonus-killer for the banker spearheading the deal.

While details of the transaction are unclear, the disagreement about the transaction led to a trans-Atlantic row that pitched Messrs. Winters and Black against each other.

The dispute then spilled into the open when Mr. Winters, 48, and Mr. Black, 57, aired their grievances to colleagues. A person familiar with the situation said that both bankers concede they could have handled the situation better.

The flare-up between Messrs. Winters and Black was resolved a week after it started when Mr. Winters flew to New York. In a meeting in midtown Manhattan, the two agreed to end the dispute and defuse the controversy before Mr. Dimon returned from a trip to Asia.

Mr. Staley has experience healing rifts. When he joined J.P. Morgan's asset-management arm in 2001, the business was struggling to digest its 2000 purchase of U.K. money manager Robert Fleming Holdings. Mr. Staley made it a priority to fully absorb Fleming's operations, including those in Europe and Asia that had been operating largely as autonomous units.

Write to Carrick Mollenkamp at carrick.mollenkamp@wsj.com and David Enrich at david.enrich@wsj.com更多精彩文章及讨论,请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net
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