Klaus Diederichs, whose most recent role was chairman of investment banking in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, will step down in April, although he will retain an advisory role, according to press reports.
JP Morgan’s longest serving investment banker had planned to retire in 2008, but stayed on to help the bank ease through the financial crisis.
Diederichs, 59, joined Morgan Guaranty Trust in 1980 in New York as a trainee in the days when the 1933 Glass Steagall Act prohibited commercial banks from participating in the investment banking business.
In 1985, he moved to London to help establish JP Morgan, which had operated in Europe for more than 200 years, as an investment bank. One of the milestones of that development was the 2004 takeover of a bastion of London’s Square Mile, Cazenove, the British stockbroker and investment bank, founded in 1823. Diederichs was involved in the negotiations.
He was a key player in a number of M&A deals including Liberty/Virgin Media and Microsoft/Nokia.
Diederichs’ long tenure at JP Morgan is seen as noteworthy in an age when bankers routinely change employers every two to three years.
