Perpetual change said to be taking its toll at JPMorgan

Another month and another round of restructuring at JPMorgan. Despite promises of higher pay, news reports suggest the bank's staff are getting a little disgruntled with the perpetual alterations.

Once again, the changes concern management of the bank's European capital markets business. Financial News reports that Viswas Raghavan, JPMorgan's head of European equity capital markets, is being elevated to a new role that includes debt markets and Asia. In January, JPMorgan hit off the latest round of changes by reorganising its securities division along global product lines.

The changes are the brainchild of chief executive Jamie Dimon, who joined the bank in 2004 following the merger of JPMorgan with Bank One. Dimon's arrival sparked several bouts of restructuring, including a hefty tweaking of the investment banking business in 2004 at the cost of at least 150 jobs in Europe.

Euroweek reports that JPMorgan's securities staff are disgruntled about the changes, and that at least some want to leave. The bank has been hit by some defections in the past year, most notably the departure of 23 derivatives staff for Merrill Lynch last June.