Plan for the worst, hope for the best

JAMIE Dimon's illness puts succession planning centre stage. The JPMorgan boss has throat cancer - curable he says, in a letter to staff revealed late on Tuesday, but serious nonetheless.

As distasteful as it may seem to put business first, the board must now ensure that America's second largest bank by market value is ready for whenever Mr Dimon leaves, no matter what the reason.

JPMorgan's directors have sometimes fallen short. That is to some extent understandable. Mr Dimon is, at 58, still young. He is one of the few bank chief executives to have steered his institution through the financial crisis relatively safely, albeit with financial and legal battle scars. And he is a strong character.