JPMorgan Chase presented Daniel Pinto, a top lieutenant to chief executive officer Jamie Dimon, a “special prize” of 750,000 limited stock options worth about $25 million that the US bank described was an attempt to keep him.
JPMorgan, the largest US bank by assets, said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday that it offered the award in the form of a “right to increase stock prices” that can be exercised at a price. $159.09/share, the average of JPMorgan stock prices on Monday.
The upside allows Pinto, the bank’s president and chief executive officer, to profit if JPMorgan’s stock rises above that level in the coming years.
The options, subject to call and call terms, will become effective in December 2026 and must be held until December 2031.
JPMorgan’s internal modeling forecast the options would bring in around $25 million in profits over the trading schedule, according to people briefed on the matter. Argentina-born Pinto, who spent his entire career at JPMorgan, received a $24.5 million salary package last year.
The bank said the award reflects the compensation and management development committee’s desire for Pinto to continue in its role for “a number of more important years”.
The award also ties in with Pinto becoming the bank’s sole chairman and chief executive officer, the bank said, following the departure of Gordon Smith at the end of the year. Pinto also leads JPMorgan’s investment banking division, which last year accounted for about 40% of the bank’s total revenue.
He has been based in London in recent years but will move to New York in 2022.
“It means a lot to him professionally and personally as he continues to spend a lot of time with me and other members of the executive committee advising on company-wide priorities and transformation projects,” Dimon wrote in a memo to employees Tuesday about Pinto’s move. to New York, seen by the Financial Times.
Pinto is considered the most likely candidate to take over as JPMorgan’s chief executive if Dimon – one of Wall Street’s longest-serving CEOs – leaves in the short term. Investors think JPMorgan veterans Marianne Lake and Jennifer Piepszak are among those with more long-term ability successor to Dimon.
Earlier this year, JPMorgan granted a special prize of appreciation rights for Dimon is expected to be worth approximately $49 million.
The bank is also preparing to pay out bumper bonuses to investment bankers after a record year for trading activity on Wall Street.
