JPMorgan Chase’s chief executive Jamie Dimon undergoes emergency heart surgery

JPMorgan Chase Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon underwent emergency heart surgery, temporarily handing control of the largest US bank to his lieutenants just as a potential pandemic rattles the global financial system.

Dimon felt chest pain before work Thursday and went to a hospital, checking himself in, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. It may have saved his life: He was diagnosed with acute aortic dissection, a serious condition involving a tear in the large blood vessel branching off the heart.

“It was caught early and the surgery was successful,” the bank said in a statement. “He is awake, alert and recovering well.” It placed co-Presidents Daniel Pinto and Gordon Smith in charge during his recuperation.

Dimon, 63, is the most prominent executive in global banking, serving as a spokesman for the industry and leading a juggernaut of both Wall Street and consumer lending. At the helm for almost 15 years, he’s the only leader left who steered a major US bank through the financial crisis, and his firm just set a profit record for the nation’s lenders. He also serves as chairman and has frequently joked for most of a decade that he plans to keep running the company for five more years.

The surgery comes at a particularly turbulent time for the biggest banks. JPMorgan said this week it was halting most business travel because of the spread of coronavirus, and it enacted continuity plans that send some traders to backup offices. The bank’s stock slipped more than 1 per cent in late trading as of 7:52pm in New York.

Recovery times from the surgery can vary, but it typically takes at least a month, including a week in hospital, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.