• JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon was asked on an earnings call who's likely to replace him.
• Dimon suggested there's a running list but that no final decision had been made.
• The comments followed a recent leadership reshuffle over a top exec's retirement plans.

One of the biggest Wall Street storylines over the years has been around who will eventually take over as CEO of JPMorgan Chase — a role long held by Jamie Dimon.

Questions resurfaced this week when America's biggest bank by assets announced a series of management changes triggered by the pending retirement of Daniel Pinto, the firm's president and COO and longtime stand-in for Dimon in case of emergency.

The leadership reshuffle sparked fresh speculation about who might succeed Dimon, which played out on the company's fourth-quarter earnings call on Wednesday.

"Jamie, who's your successor?" Mike Mayo, a Wells Fargo bank-research analyst, asked on the call.

Dimon suggested that there's a running list of candidates (including some whom analysts like Mayo may not suspect) but that no final decision had been made. He declined to name names, however, except for Jenn Piepszak, the co-CEO of JPMorgan's commercial and investment bank who was tapped to replace Pinto as COO and has said she doesn't want the CEO job.

"We have several exceptional people. You guys know most of them. Maybe one or two you don't know," Dimon told Mayo. "The board reviews and meets with them all the time. I think it's wonderful that Jenn Piepszak, who does not want to be the CEO, will be here as
chief operating officer and stay after that."

As Business Insider reported this week, Pinto is set to step down in June from his day-to-day role and fully retire at the end of 2026. Piepszak agreed to take on the COO role vacated by Pinto but took her name out of consideration for CEO.

"And obviously, we're not going to tell the press, but it's not determined yet," Dimon said. Even if there was a top pick, he said, things could change by the time he stepped down as CEO.

"People get sick. They change their mind or family circumstances. So even if you thought you knew today, you couldn't be completely sure," he said.

Dimon made headlines last year when he said his time as JPMorgan's CEO was coming to a close. "The timetable is not five years anymore," he told investors, referring to a running joke about how he's often said five years when asked how long he might remain at the helm.

On Wednesday, Dimon suggested that he still planned to retire as CEO, though not necessarily as chair, in four to five years.

"Now you're talking potentially four, five years or more. I'll be 69 in March. I think it's the rational thing to do," he said.

"I've had a couple of health problems, you know," he added, referring to his cardiac issues in recent years. In 2020, he underwent emergency heart surgery.

"If I'm here for several more years, I may or may not be chairman," he said, adding: "It's going to be up to the board."