(Bloomberg) — Wells Fargo & Co. made its future a little more apparent this week by promoting Timothy Sloan to chief operating officer and president, positioning him as the top candidate to succeed John Stumpf. The picture for other large U.S. banks isn't as clear.
The six biggest banks haven't experienced a change in chief executive officers in more than three years, and none of their current leaders has signaled that they intend to leave anytime soon. Still, succession planning is a never-ending process, and none of the firms has gone outside its ranks for the top job in the past decade.
Many of the largest European lenders, meanwhile, have seen turnover at the top: Deutsche Bank AG, Credit Suisse Group AG and Barclays Plc all replaced CEOs this year — and all went outside their own management to do so.
Stumpf, 62, is just three years away from his company's mandatory retirement age and promoting Sloan, 55, offers the potential of another decade of stability at the top of the most valuable U.S. bank. Here's where other large firms stand in their plans for the future:
JPMorgan Chase & Co.
CEO Jamie Dimon, 59, has repeatedly said he's five years away from retirement. Below him is a swath of executives that are seen as possible successors, in part because some of the presumed favorites have left in recent years. The leaders of each of the bank's four major divisions — Gordon Smith, 57, in consumer banking, Daniel Pinto, 52, at the investment bank, Doug Petno in commercial banking, and Mary Erdoes, 48, in asset management — are all considered candidates, as well as Chief Financial Officer Marianne Lake, 46, and COO Matt Zames, 45.
