TWO women are being tipped as the most likely candidates for the top job at JP Morgan when president and chief executive Jamie Dimon eventually stands down.

The American bank – which is Bournemouth’s biggest private sector employer – has promoted two possible successors in a top-level rehsuffle.

Marianne Lake and Jennifer Piepszak, both 51, are to become co-heads of JP Morgan’s consumer and community banking unit.

It is the bank’s biggest section by revenue, accounting for 42 per cent of the company’s turnover.

The Financial Times quoted Wells Fargo analyst Mike Mayo as saying: “It looks like a two-woman race for the CEO job for JP Morgan.”

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Marianne Lake has been with the bank for 20 years.

She has been the head of JP Morgan’s consumer lending unit and was the bank’s group chief financial officer from 2013-2019.

Jennifer Piepszak has been with JP Morgan for more than 25 years and took over from Ms Lake in the role of chief financial officer.

Mr Dimon, 65, said: “We are fortunate to have two such superb executives in Marianne and Jenn — they both are examples of our extremely talented and deep management bench.”

The company’s co-chief operating officer Gordon Smith has announced he will step down from his roles at the end of this year.

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He said in an interview: “Marianne and Jenn are both terrific business people.

“They have really great business acumen, they’re really thoughtful, they have a good view out in the future strategically.”

Jamie Dimon took the top job at JP Morgan at the end of 2005 and led it through the 2008 banking crash.

He underwent emergency heart surgery last year at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic but made a full recovery.

His visits to Bournemouth have included one in 2014 to unveil a £28.5million investment in the site and another in 2016 to campaign for a Remain vote in the EU referendum, alongside then-chancellor George Osborne.

The board of JP Morgan has indicated it would like Mr Dimon to stay on for a “significant number of additional years”.

JP Morgan employs 4,000 people at its Chaseside site in Bournemouth, which opened in 1986 with 650 staff. Staff provide support services to the bank’s operations around the world.