Dimon more crucial than ever to JPMorgan

Trailblazer: Dimon (right) with former British prime minister Tony Blair (left) during a courtesy call at Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s office in Tokyo. The American is set to stay with JPMorgan until 2026. — AFP

NEW YORK: The cocktails flowed as guests arrived that evening at what was once the lavish library of J. Pierpont Morgan, the greatest banker of his time. It was there, beyond the elegant facade worthy of the Medici, that Jamie Dimon, Morgan’s figurative heir and, arguably, the greatest banker of his time, began dropping a few f-bombs.

The occasion that June night was a get-together of former executives of JPMorgan Chase and Co, a normally light affair of how-are-yous and drinks in the library’s glass-walled atrium.