JPMorgan rejigs its operations again

JPMorgan Chase revealed another overhaul of its operations on Wednesday, saying in an internal memo that it would revamp its corporate and investment banking division.

The latest change, coming a little more than a month after a broad reshuffling of the bank's upper echelons, breaks up the division into two units. As part of the switch, Carlos Hernandez, who held the reins of the equities business, will now head up prime brokerage services for the bank's hedge fund clients. Tim Throsby will take over as global head of equities.

Among the winners beyond Hernandez in the reshuffling is Blythe Masters, the long-time head of JPMorgan's commodities division. Under the reorganisation, Masters will take on regulatory affairs for the corporate and investment bank.

 

As regulations being worked out in Washington promise to hurt profits in derivatives trading, many banks, including JPMorgan are shifting their focus to other business areas, including securities lending and asset management, bank analysts said.

JPMorgan, the nation's largest bank, overhauled some of its units in July, combining its consumer businesses under one group, and its investment banking and treasury operations under another. The revamp came in the wake of a $5.8 billion loss on a soured bet on credit derivatives.

In just over a year, JPMogan has shaken up its executive suite four times. Last week, the bank announced that Craig Delany, who was most recently the chief operating officer of JPMorgan's mortgage banking unit, would take the helm of the chief investment office, the troubled unit at the center of the trading losses.

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© 2012 The New York Times News Service