Exclusive-JPMorgan payments chief Georgakopoulos to leave, according to memo

By Nupur Anand

NEW YORK (Reuters) -JPMorgan Chase’s global head of payments, Takis Georgakopoulos, is leaving to pursue other opportunities, prompting the bank to install new leaders atop one of its fastest-growing divisions, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters on Monday.

Max Neukirchen and Umar Farooq have been picked to succeed Georgakopoulos, effective immediately. The appointments are the latest big leadership changes put in place by CEO candidates Jennifer Piepszak and Troy Rohrbaugh as they put their stamp on the newly merged commercial and investment banking division.

Georgakopoulos, who sat on the firm’s operating committee of top leaders, had been with the bank for 17 years and is credited with expanding its payments business, which processes $10 trillion a day.

“During his tenure, the business has become one of the firm’s biggest growth engines, increasing revenue and market share in a highly competitive environment,” Piepszak and Rohrbaugh, co-heads of the commercial and investment bank, wrote in an internal note to employees.

Revenue for the payments business firmwide stood at $4.46 billion in the first quarter, higher than the $2 billion revenue brought in from investment banking.

“Payments clearly stands out from the rest,” Piepszak said during the bank’s annual investor day last month.

JPMorgan has more than 9% market share in global payments. Payments services are often the first offered to new clients and have been among the bank’s biggest growth areas in recent years, executives told investors last month.

Neukirchen, who joined JPMorgan in 2013, previously served as global head of payments and commerce solutions.

Farooq was the CEO of Onyx, the bank’s blockchain platform. He joined JPMorgan in 2009.

Piepszak and Rohrbaugh are among the executives who could replace CEO Jamie Dimon, who plans to step down in less than five years.

Georgakopoulos is the latest senior executive to exit the commercial and investment banking division.

Viswas Raghavan, who served as JPMorgan’s head of global investment banking, is joining Citigroup to lead its banking unit this summer. Fernando Rivas was appointed Wells Fargo’s co-CEO of corporate and investment banking.

Separately, senior dealmakers Andy Lipsky and Haidee Lee joined other firms. Achintya Mangla, former global head of equity capital markets, also departed.