Economy
JPMorgan succession timeline finally taking shape, insiders say
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has long spoken about succession, but a clear timeline for stepping aside has remained elusive. This time, however, sources say, the plan is real.
Dimon plans to stay as CEO for up to three more years, with insiders hoping that the bank will name his successor – Troy Rohrbaugh or Doug Petno, the bank’s newly named co-presidents – ahead of that.
Rohrbaugh, who has been tasked with running JPMorgan’s massive consumer business, is seen as having the lead internally, according to the views of two senior executives at the firm. They added that Rohrbaugh’s promotion to the other side of the bank from the commercial and investment banking business suggests he’s the frontrunner to take over the top job from Dimon.
And when the time comes, Dimon would become executive chair, a separate source familiar with the matter told Reuters, echoing what Dimon has said publicly and speaking on condition of anonymity because the discussions are private.
The succession, if it were to come to pass, would end one of the longest-standing questions on Wall Street: Who will replace the statesman banker who has built JPMorgan into the biggest and one of the most profitable U.S. banks.
Shareholders are prepared for Dimon to finally hand over, but want it to be done as smoothly as possible.
“My only request of the firm is that it is very clearly laid out and handled seamlessly,” said Walter Todd, chief investment officer, Greenwood Capital in South Carolina, which owns JPM shares, describing Dimon’s succession as “inevitable.”
Timeline mapped out
Dimon himself has been vocal about succession, both publicly and in private.
In a social meeting weeks ago at the bank’s new headquarters in Manhattan, Dimon, unprompted, told a senior Wall Street executive about the “deep bench” of talent JPMorgan has to succeed him, a second source said. JPMorgan declined comment on the conversations.
Dimon is expected to stay in charge for up to three more years before transitioning to executive chair, but a successor could be named earlier, within two to two-and-a-half years, one of the sources said. Every board meeting is devoting a significant amount of time to the succession question, the source said. After handing over the reins, Dimon will likely stay as executive chair for a couple of years, the source said.
Previously, Dimon had given varying timelines. He said in 2024 he envisioned an exit in less than five years, a similar message to that given in 2018. Earlier this year, he said he wanted to stay on at least five more years, in a comment his spokespeople said at the time was a joke. In February, he said he would remain for a few years as CEO.
Spokespeople for Rohrbaugh and Petno declined to comment.
Risks of waiting
Even a two-to-three year timeline carries risks.
The two executives stressed that a wait of up to three years could raise the risk of the bank losing potential successors, with one saying it would likely be a concern for the board.
While JPMorgan awarded four of its top executives, including Petno and Rohrbaugh, multimillion-dollar retention pay packages, the bank’s board would likely not want to lose them or any other potential successors during the unofficial waiting period, one of the executives said.
Numerous senior executives, including Matt Zames, Charlie Scharf and Bill Demchak, left the firm during Dimon’s tenure to take senior roles elsewhere.
They did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment.
If Rohrbaugh or Petno quickly impress, the bank could move more swiftly, the two executives said. One of the executives said that the view within the bank was that Rohrbaugh has the lead, with an impressive track record having come up through the ranks as a trader, although a separate source said that Petno should not be written off given his track record of bringing in large deals.
On the betting platform Kalshi, Rohrbaugh has pulled ahead at 45%, with Petno at 34%.
For Rohrbaugh, who built his reputation on trading floors, taking the CEO role would mean a big shift to the bank’s sprawling suite of branches, credit cards and mortgages, a division that accounted for nearly 39% of its total revenue in the first quarter. The 56-year-old began his career as a foreign-exchange trader and joined JPMorgan in 2005.
Petno, 61, meanwhile, takes sole charge of the commercial and investment bank after a 35-year career at JPMorgan. He is a seasoned banker who spent more than two decades in investment banking and led JPMorgan’s Global Natural Resources Group. The division encompasses global banking, markets, payments and securities services, placing him at the helm of some of the lender’s most profitable businesses.
If the bank proceeds with an accelerated timeline, it would mirror a similar move at rival Morgan Stanley, where Ted Pick was chosen to succeed longtime CEO James Gorman more than two years after being appointed co-president.
Still, shareholders are more than happy to see Dimon stick around. Eric Kuby, chief investment officer, North Star Investment Management Corp., which owns JPMorgan shares, said the shares “command a premium multiple” compared to other major bank stocks partly due to the Dimon factor.
“The market is well aware of his intentions to not run JPMorgan for very much longer,” Kuby said. “But we think he does a great job, so the longer he is steering the ship, the better.”
South Korea on Monday unveiled a broad industrial strategy focused on semiconductors and artificial intelligence, with President Lee Jae Myung announcing more than $576 billion in chip investment aimed at cementing global leadership and rebalancing growth.
The plan, anchored by Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, marks Lee’s boldest push yet to align South Korea’s AI and chip ambitions with his pledge to narrow regional disparities and revive economies beyond the Seoul metropolitan area.
Flanked by the chiefs of the world’s two biggest memory chipmakers, Lee cast the initiative as a “great leap forward,” centered on the “triple axis” of semiconductors, physical AI and data centers.
“We must secure the core elements of AI faster than any other country,” the president said in a televised address.
Samsung and SK Hynix will invest 800 trillion won ($518.30 billion) to build two new chip fabrication sites each in South Korea’s southwest region, industry minister Kim Jung-kwan said.
Lee said the country’s southwestern city of Gwangju and South Jeolla province will also invest 5 trillion-20 trillion won in the projects. A further 81 trillion won is expected for a chip packaging cluster in the Chungcheong area near Seoul.
“To meet the rapidly increasing demand for semiconductors, we need to quickly complete the production hubs that are currently under construction,” Lee said.
“At the same time, we must secure overwhelming production capacity in advance through large-scale new investments, including in the southwestern region. Existing sites centered around Yongin and Pyeongtaek have already reached their limits.”
Lee said the southwest will host major chip production clusters, drawing on abundant, underused power.
Industry experts say diversifying chip investment beyond Seoul could ease infrastructure bottlenecks, but warn that building cutting-edge fabs requires vast electricity and water, advanced logistics, deep supplier networks and highly skilled labor – elements that may not scale quickly enough in a new region to meet surging AI demand.
“To execute something of this magnitude properly requires an extraordinary amount of deliberation. I am sure there has been extensive internal review, but from the outside, it still appears to be moving too fast,” said Lee Jong-ho, a professor at Seoul National University’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
“It would be ideal if demand remained strong for the next 20 or 30 years, but no one can know that with certainty…If demand were to decline, the consequences would be severe.”
HBM chips give pole position in AI race
South Korea is emerging as a major winner from the surge in global AI investment, driven by Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix’s commanding position in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips essential to advanced AI processors.
Their grip on HBM supply has made them central to the global push to develop more powerful AI systems. Both companies operate large semiconductor hubs in the Seoul metropolitan area.
Industry Minister Kim also said the country will double dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) output within five years by bringing forward construction of fabs in the Seoul metropolitan area to the mid-2030s.
DRAM is a type of memory that is used to power electronics such as laptops and smartphones and HBM is produced by stacking multiple layers of DRAM.
Samsung Electronics Chairman Jay Y. Lee said at the event the company had selected Gwangju as a site for its new chip cluster, while SK Hynix’s Chairman Chey Tae-won said the firm needed more time to finalize a site and secure infrastructure in the southwestern region.
“It took us nine years for us to create a cluster in Yongin. Also, a chip factory requires massive land, power, water and talent,” Chey said.
Shares of Samsung and SK Hynix closed down 4.86% and 1.68%, respectively, on Monday with some analysts warning that the surge in investments could lead to a supply glut.
Lee defends plan
Opposition politicians have sharply criticized Lee’s southwest chip hub, questioning whether the proposal is politically motivated given that 85% of voters in the region backed Lee in last year’s presidential election.
The announcement comes as Lee’s approval rating has slid for six weeks to 46.5%, according to pollster Realmeter.
The president defended the proposed southwest chip hub in a series of X posts over the weekend, rejecting criticism that it favors a liberal stronghold.
In addition to chips, science minister Bae Kyung-hoon said South Korea is aiming to invest 550 trillion won in AI data centers by 2029 and more than 1,000 trillion won by 2035, while decentralizing infrastructure to support regional growth beyond the capital.
Seoul also plans a robotics and parts cluster in Saemangeum on the west coast, where Hyundai Motor has invested, to rival humanoid robotics advances in countries including China.
British American Tobacco plans to reduce its workforce by about 20% as it pushes ahead with an AI-led restructuring aimed at cutting costs and boosting profits amid regulatory pressures and product launch delays.
The company said on Monday it would cut about 5,500 jobs and move roughly 3,500 roles to third-party firms, including Accenture, affecting around 9,000 employees in total. The restructuring excludes the U.S., its biggest market.
BAT said the program was expected to deliver 600 million pounds ($793 million) in additional annualized savings by 2028, with 500 million pounds targeted by 2027.
Still, its shares were down 1.6% to 46.73 pounds at 0940 GMT, underperforming the FTSE 100, which was down 0.3%.
Scale of reductions
“These changes affect many of our colleagues and we are focused on supporting them through this transition with care and respect,” CEO Tadeu Marroco said in a statement.
He said the overhaul would make the company more agile, cost-disciplined and technology-enabled.
BAT had flagged in February that its new productivity drive could lead to job cuts, but the scale of the reductions may surprise investors, Barclays analyst Pallav Mittal said in a note.
The Lucky Strike and Dunhill cigarette maker’s sales and profit growth have been sluggish in recent years, often missing or only just meeting company targets, disappointing some investors.
Strategy shifts
BAT’s main profit engine, traditional tobacco, is in terminal decline, with the company predicting a 2.5% drop in industry sales volumes this year.
It is shifting toward smoking alternatives such as Vuse vapes and Velo nicotine pouches, but it has faced setbacks and trails key rival Philip Morris International.
U.S. regulators have taken a tough stance on approving licenses for new products such as vapes, delaying launches. BAT says this has fuelled an influx of illegal Chinese products, weighing on its sales and market share.
U.S. tobacco sales have also been hit as smokers swap to cheaper brands amid high living costs, while BAT also faces rising duties, tighter regulations and illicit trade in markets including Australia and Bangladesh.
BAT said most role changes had been confirmed with employees, with remaining consultations under way in line with local requirements.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) said Monday that it would provide Airbus with a record 3 billion euros ($3.4 billion) in financing to boost planemaker’s research and development programs.
The EU’s lending arm said the money was intended to strengthen the European aircraft manufacturer’s technological edge in the commercial aviation, defense and space sectors in the face of global competition from the likes of the United States and China.
A joint statement on Monday said Airbus had signed an initial 1 billion euro loan with the EIB as part of the financing package.
“This new financing – unprecedented in the EIB’s history – aims to provide Airbus with not only the capacity but also the flexibility needed to invest in long-term research, development and innovation across both commercial aviation and the security and defense sectors,” EIB Vice President Ambroise Fayolle told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Some of the money will also support Airbus’ efforts to reduce planet-warming emissions from its aircraft, Fayolle added.
The loan for Airbus is the latest move by Europe to shore up its technology and industrial sectors, and it follows a planned tie-up of the satellite activities of Airbus, Thales and Leonardo, which is aimed at creating a European rival to Elon Musk’s Starlink.
The EIB said its financing deal for Airbus, whose main rival is Boeing, would support Airbus’ planned investments through to 2030.
It added that the 3 billion euro package for Airbus was the largest-ever corporate loan authorized by the EIB.
“This facility reinforces the depth of our strategic partnership with the EIB, supporting the commercial and defense research that drives European industrial competitiveness,” said Airbus CFO Thomas Toepfer in a statement.
“The highly competitive terms and extended flexibility grant us the maximum optionality to manage our balance sheet, minimize the cost of carry and sustain our long-term investments in aerospace innovation,” Toepfer added.
A joint action plan between Türkiye and Saudi Arabia to facilitate trade was signed during the World Customs Organization (WCO) Council meeting held in Brussels, according to a statement on Saturday.
The meeting was attended by Deputy Trade Minister Sezai Uçarmak, and the ministry shared the details related to it on its NSosyal account.
The statement said that Uçarmak attended the 147th and 148th Sessions of the WCO Council, which brought together the heads of customs administrations from 187 member countries and senior representatives of international organizations.
It noted that the meeting addressed key issues, including the future of global trade, data-driven customs management, artificial intelligence, e-commerce, and secure supply chains, while the organization’s work was also presented to member countries for their views.
The statement highlighted that Uçarmak held a meeting with Suhail Abnami, the governor of Saudi Arabia’s Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority, during which they had talks focused on developing road transit corridors connecting Türkiye with the Gulf region, the effective implementation of the TIR system, and facilitating regional and bilateral trade.
“Following the meeting, a Joint Action Plan was signed between our countries to accelerate the process of mutual recognition of Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) programs,” it said.
Moreover, it added that the deputy minister also held bilateral discussions with counterparts from the customs administrations of Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Hungary, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Maldives, Syria, Georgia, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, and Iran, during which bilateral relations were discussed.
Turkish small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for most of businesses in the country, playing a decisive role in many areas of the economy, ranging from employment to production, whether in small towns or major cities, financial officials said.
The U.N. General Assembly adopted a resolution in April 2017 to celebrate Micro-, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSMEs) Day, first observed on June 27, 2017, to underline the contributions of SMEs to the global economy and sustainable development.
This year, the special day is marked under the theme of “Empowering MSMEs through Innovation and Sustainable Industrial Development.”
The U.N. says SMEs make up for 90% of businesses worldwide and account for around 70% of employment, while contributing 50% of global gross domestic product (GDP).
Humberto Lopez, Türkiye country director at the World Bank, told Anadolu Agency (AA) on the occasion of the U.N.’s MSMEs Day that small businesses make up the backbone of the Turkish economy, accounting for 70% of total employment.
Lopez stated that implementing policies to empower SMEs is not only an economic but also a social priority, as it requires simultaneous action across many areas, where the World Bank can play an active role by combining public and private sector tools.
He noted that the bank works in public policy, institutions, guarantee mechanisms, and crisis response, while the International Finance Corporation (IFC) supports private sector investments, financial institutions, and capital markets. He said the combined approach is key to supporting a large and dynamic economy like Türkiye’s.
Lopez stated that SMEs across the globe face challenges accessing finance, including those in Türkiye, while making up a significant portion of businesses worldwide.
Initiatives in Türkiye
He said the SME financing gap in developing economies reaches trillions of dollars, and Türkiye faces a similar challenge, citing World Bank data. He advised that implementing public policies, guarantee mechanisms, a robust data infrastructure, financial inclusion, and rapid support mechanisms is significant in helping SMEs through crises.
He also noted that bank-backed initiatives in 2020-2023 injected financing into over 87,000 MSMEs in Türkiye, helping create or preserve around 115,000 jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic and after the February 2023 earthquakes in the nation’s southeast. He mentioned that 77% of new hires were workers under the age of 30 and 61% were women.
Lopez stated that some 40,000 MSMEs, especially those in disaster-stricken zones, received $450 million in post-earthquake project financing from the World Bank, as businesses in the affected region faced not only physical damage but also disruptions to market connections, access to labor, supply chains, and cash flows.
He urged SMEs to embrace digitalization, create formal and skilled jobs, and strengthen their resilience against disasters and economic shocks, as financing alone is not enough to ensure success.
At the same time, he advised small businesses operating in low-tech production, which make up a large share of SMEs in the manufacturing sector, to realize their potential for gains in productivity, digitalization, and higher value-added production.
He added that making Türkiye’s already strong SME base more efficient, resilient, and inclusive through policies boosting these areas and offering more targeted solutions for groups and regions in need of support, such as women, young people, and businesses in disaster-affected areas, will be key to sustainable growth.
Productivity, digitalization
Lisa Kaestner, division director for Türkiye, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan at the IFC, stated that SMEs form the base of the economy and play a key role in supply chains, local markets, exports, and digital transformation, while their growth provides benefits to suppliers, workers, customers, and local communities.
Kaestner said the right financial tools for SMEs are tied to employment and productivity, noting that the IFC’s approach in Türkiye aims to support access to financing to enable SMEs to invest, grow, and create more jobs, which she said is possible through ensuring long-term financing via banks and connecting them with markets through larger firms and value chains.
She mentioned that investing in new equipment, transitioning to digital sales, and promoting investments in energy efficiency or preparing for exports also boost efficiency, helping small businesses grow into larger and stronger ones with more resilient jobs.
Kaestner emphasized that SMEs account for over two-thirds of employment in Türkiye but received less than 27% of total bank loans as of late 2025, highlighting a mismatch between SMEs’ share of the economy and their access to financing, as Turkish small businesses continue to struggle to secure favorable maturity terms, viable collateral structures, and diverse financial products tailored to their operational needs.
She stated that the IFC is working with private banks, leasing firms, and private equity funds to develop longer-term financial products tailored to smaller businesses.
Kaestner said the IFC can mobilize private-sector financing, as reaching Turkish SMEs is most effective through financial institutions, thanks to their customer networks and capacity to develop solutions, while private equity funds can help with growth, job creation, and productivity in ways debt financing cannot.
She mentioned that the IFC provided a $350 million package for the recovery financing of small businesses in the disaster-stricken zone of the nation’s southeast through five private banks, benefiting 55,000 MSMEs, including farmers, to support businesses in reinvesting, protecting their workforce, and contributing to the local economy.
Kaestner noted that while funding can be used for a wide range of purposes, financing is needed not only for daily working capital but also for efforts such as energy efficiency, digital transformation, building export capacity, and integration into supply chains to access new markets.
She added that the IFC can support the flow of longer-term financing through private banks, leasing companies and venture capital funds, which are not easily available in the market.
Furthermore, she stated that the next priorities in SME financing in Türkiye are mobilizing more private capital and diversifying financing channels by expanding long-term financing through banks, strengthening the role of non-bank institutions such as leasing and factoring companies, providing trade and supply chain financing, and making better use of capital market instruments.
She added that women’s employment is one of the top items on the IFC’s agenda, saying that women’s participation in the workforce is 37% and that closing the gap could potentially drive a 25% increase in GDP, resulting in more investment, production and employment.
Across Asia, food vendors are contending with higher costs for plastic bags, cups and containers as the energy crisis triggered by the Middle East war drives prices up.
While the U.S. and Iran have reached a memorandum to halt the conflict, the possibility of new attacks remains. It will also take time for markets to recover and supply flows to return to normal, with persistent concerns over traffic through the economically vital Strait of Hormuz.
At Taipei’s Songjiang market, chicken vendor Li Yu-ping, 52, said in early June that the price of plastic bags had jumped nearly 60%, while the cost of plastic trays had risen by a third.
“We use them everywhere,” she said of the bags. “Our food containers are also plastic, all disposable.”
Wary of hiking prices, “all of this has become a cost for the vendors,” she said.
A key raw material for many of these plastic goods is ethylene, which is derived from naphtha, an oil by-product. Around 60% of the naphtha imported to Asia comes from the Gulf.
Faced with tight supply and soaring prices due to the monthslong closure of the Strait of Hormuz, petrochemical companies mainly in South Korea and Japan have scaled back production capacity, sending the cost of basic goods such as plastic bags surging.
In Bangkok, Nikorn Sai-inthara, a 60-year-old selling vegetables from a street cart, estimated his operating costs had risen by 30%.
“I rely on plastic bags for my work because I sell vegetables on the go to busy people and office workers,” said Nikorn, who wraps individual portions in plastic and secures them with a rubber band.
“Ever since the fighting started in the Middle East, my profits have fallen, but I don’t dare raise prices for my customers,” he told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
‘No choice’
Several vendors across the region told AFP they do not have a practical alternative to the plastic products they use on a daily basis.
“We have no choice. If you don’t give customers plastic bags, they complain,” said Chang Chiu-hsiang, a 78-year-old grocer in Taipei.
“I think you can’t really avoid using them,” added Li, the chicken vendor, noting, however, that some customers have started to use reusable bags.
Somsak Jaidee, 62, who sells rice porridge in bags secured with rubber bands at a Bangkok market, said that while “everything is more expensive … I have to endure it.”
“I can’t think of anything else that offers the same convenience for my customers as plastic bags.”
A cautious reopening of the Strait of Hormuz since the U.S.-Iran deal was signed last week has yet to fully impact naphtha prices, which have dipped only slightly.
And manufacturers continue to process naphtha purchased when prices were higher.
In early June, Taiwanese manufacturer Formosa Petrochemical reported cutting the utilization rate of its ethylene steam cracker to 35%, down from 53% in March at the very start of the war.
“At this point, the situation is not entirely due to the lack of feedstock. The bigger issue now is that the feedstock has become extremely expensive, and some of our customers simply can’t bear the higher prices,” Formosa’s president, Lin Keh-yen, told AFP.
Diversification
In South Korea, supply tensions remained acute in early June.
“Normally, if we order 10,000 plastic bags, they arrive within about a week. Now suppliers are telling us that we may have to wait more than a month” with prices 30% higher, said a shop employee in Seoul.
A nearby dry cleaner said the price of plastic garment covers had more than doubled, while a cafe owner noted a 50% increase in the cost of plastic cups.
South Korea’s plastics industry association said the Middle East war had forced manufacturers to hike prices, although “alternative” supply routes have helped stabilize the situation.
Fajar Budiyono, secretary-general of the Association of Olefin, Aromatic, Plastic and Chemical Industries in Indonesia, said a shift to suppliers in places like China and Africa has helped keep prices at bay.
In the Philippines, meanwhile, manufacturers said they had absorbed some of the additional costs.
“Our profits got squeezed. We could not simply raise prices as we would be swamped by imports,” said Steve Tavera, a member of the Philippine Plastics Industry Association.
As a result, price hikes have so far been “conservative,” he said.
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