But three months after Trump’s 2017 inauguration, a sequence of events laid the groundwork for deals to finally get done: Tarullo, whom bankers had nicknamed the “the Wizard of Oz” for his behind-the-curtains influence, stepped down from his post at the Fed. Curry left the OCC a month later, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin named a banking lawyer, Keith Noreika, to temporarily replace him. Under Noreika, who ran the OCC for about seven months until November 2017, the regulator relaxed its stance on expansion.
Now unfettered, Dimon is on the prowl. While the chief executive officer has frequently said he prefers internal growth over deals, he doubts regulators would stand in his way if he tried to expand JPMorgan, according to a person familiar with his thinking. The 63-year-old CEO told a recent New York conference he’s hunting for the bank’s next acquisition, said a person who was in the audience.
“I want to do one more big one before I’m done,” Dimon said.
--With assistance from Jesse Hamilton, Kiel Porter, Bob Ivry and Daniel Taub.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.