JPMorgan Chase names Lake next CFO

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NEW YORK, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- JPMorgan Chase said Marianne Lake, 43, would be its next chief financial officer, making her one of the most powerful women in the U.S. banking industry.

Lake is the current CFO of the bank's consumer and community banking business. She is expected to replace Douglas Braunstein as the bank's CFO as Braunstein transitions to vice chairman of the bank early next year.

Lakes is to report to Chief Executive Officer James Dimon. Braunstein had been working under co-Chief Operating Officer Matt Zames, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

Dimon said lake is "an outstanding choice for this critically important role."

Lake has "developed an impressive breadth of knowledge and experience in finance across both our wholesale and our consumer businesses -- in the United States and around the world," he said.

By taking the position, Lake joins the inner circle of 14 executives who run JPMorgan Chase, which is currently the largest bank in the country.

There is only one other woman in the so-called operating committee at the present time, Mary Erdoes, the head of JPMorgan's asset management.

By comparison, four of 10 of executives reporting to the CEO at Bank of America are women, while no women are in the tier at Citigroup and only one is on the 11-executive team that runs Morgan Stanley, the Journal said.

Dimon said Monday hiring a woman as CFO was incidental. While "very conscious" that hiring women is important, gender "wasn't a consideration at all -- we were simply looking for the best person for the job," he said in an interview.