And so it has come to pass as everyone expected. William Harrison, chairman of JPMorgan Chase & Co., has announced he will retire at the end of this year. That paves the way for the board to elevate Jamie Dimon, the current president and chief executive officer, to the chairmanship. There is little doubt that this will happen. Dimon is known as the consummate cost-cutter and has been tasked with just that recently. His prime competitor in the industry is Citigroup. Which means Dimon is in perfect position to exact revenge on his one-time mentor Sandy Weill, who sacked him so many years ago at Citigroup. JPMorgan is in fine shape, but must answer the same questions that plague all retail banks at the moment.

For more on JPMorgan:
- Here's a MarketWatch article