Win Bischoff, one of the world's most influential and celebrated financiers, has died aged 81, one of his relatives said on Wednesday, prompting tributes from an industry he helped to shape, and later salvage after the 2008 global banking crisis.
The Anglo-German banker served some of the world's biggest lenders and finance firms over a career that spanned more than five decades and criss-crossed continents.
Bischoff was a former chairman of Lloyds Banking Group, Citigroup and more recently, the chairman of J.P. Morgan Securities plc. He also served as chief executive of British asset manager Schroders.
Bischoff carved out a reputation as one of the industry's most astute leaders with a particular talent for strategic overhauls and repositioning banks battered by the 2007 U.S. subprime mortgage market meltdown and credit crunch that followed.
Bischoff died on Tuesday of natural causes, the relative, who asked not to be named, told Reuters.
Lloyds' Chairman Robin Budenberg and Jamie Dimon, Chairman and Chief Executive of JP Morgan, led the tributes to the veteran, who was awarded a knighthood in the 2000 New Year Honours List for services to the banking industry.
"Sir Win was a giant of our industry," Dimon said in a statement.
"A pivotal and calming leader through the financial crisis - his wisdom has left an indelible influence on our management teams. It is a true honor to have worked with him so closely."
Budenberg described Bischoff as "an exemplary figure in financial services, and a pivotal part in the story of Lloyds Banking Group" in his capacity as chair between 2009 and 2014.
"He played a uniquely influential and thoughtful role in the governance of banking and other business sectors – a guiding hand towards a more resilient, sustainable and inclusive financial sector," he said in a statement.
(Reuters)
Lloyds Banking Group Chairman, Win Bischoff, arrives for the British Bankers' Association (BBA) annual international banking conference in London October 17, 2012. File photo by Reuters.
