JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon has shaken up his executive team, and the analysis has begun in earnest.

The biggest news is that Charles Scharf, the head of Chase Retail Financial Services (a major component of the revenue mix), was reassigned to an internal private equity group. No matter how hard the bank tries to spin it positively--Scharf and Dimon made clear that move was what Scharf wanted--there was no denying that it was a demotion. This is according to a commentary in the New York Times, which gives Dimon credit for dealing so compassionately with a man who widely considered his protégé and a candidate to run the entire bank someday.

Dimon was famously fired quite brusquely by his former mentor Sandy Weill--of course Dimon had previously fired Weill's daughter, a rather brash move--and understands no doubt what Scharf is going through. In the end, the financial and mortgage crises have taken down a lot of executives, the likes of Ken Lewis, Alan Schwartz, Richard Fuld and many others. Scharf has ended up a lot better than the others.

The consumer and mortgage business perhaps expanded such that it can't be managed by a single person no matter how talented. Scharf's job was divided up among three people. Heidi Miller, the retiring head of international business, was also given a hero's farewell. She too was once seen as a candidate to run the show someday. All in all, the CEO succession picture has been clouded significantly. But it will ikely not be long before a new front-runner emerges.  

For more:
- here's the article
- here's the release

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