JPMORGAN Chase CFO Jeremy Barnum said he expects trading revenue to decline by 5 to 10 per cent in the first quarter compared with a strong quarter in the previous year.

Revenue in JPMorgan’s markets division was US$8.4 billion in the first quarter last year.

“Both equities and macro were relatively strong last year,” and performance will be slightly worse across asset classes, Barnum told investors at a conference in Miami on Tuesday (Feb 27).

Investment banking fees are expected to rise by a percentage in the low-to-mid teens this quarter versus a year earlier, while the market for initial public offerings has been weaker than expected, he said.

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon on Monday said market sentiment is improving for equities, mergers and acquisitions but maintained a cautious tone about the economic outlook.

The bank’s board is taking the topic of succession for Dimon very seriously, Barnum said. In the last two months, the lender has shuffled executives in its investment banking, commercial, corporate and consumer units.

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“Succession is very important for every company, for every board, but for fairly obvious reasons it is particularly important for us,” Barnum said.

Executives are being moved around internally to help them “develop new skills and to make them better prepared and more credible as successors,” he added.

Dimon has run the largest US bank since 2006, making him the longest-serving leader among the country’s biggest lenders. His succession plan has garnered attention for years, and several executives who were viewed as potential replacements left to take the helm at other companies.

Dimon sold about 821,778 of his own shares in the bank last week, worth US$150 million , the first time he has done so since taking charge.

In October, a company spokesperson said the planned sale was intended for financial diversification and not related to succession. REUTERS