To paraphrase the famous observation from Iowa’s Republican Senator Chuck Grassley: “It doesn’t take a pig farmer from Iowa to smell the stench” of a chief compliance officer beholden to the general counsel. And now JP Morgan Chase seems to agree.
Last week’s announcement by JPMorgan Chase of sweeping changes in its compliance function, replacing its CCO and moving the reporting line away from legal, is big news for proponents of CCO independence and empowerment. The bank’s new CCO, Cynthia Armine, will no longer report to the Legal and Compliance Department of the General Counsel, but instead to the firm’s operational co-heads—a structural reorganization that seems to respond to calls from the C&E field for greater CCO independence, line of sight, and seat at the table to empower the CCO.
