Perhaps a few quants in the bank have higher IQ, but you don't make it to CEO of a large bank by being stupid. A carefully cultivated image of being "not the smartest bulb" can be a powerful advantage. Making dumb mistakes when it doesn't matter can make people underestimate you at more crucial moments.

It's generally agreed upon that the CEO of Bank of America during the 2008 financial crisis is an idiot.

I didn't mean the CEOs of large financial institutions are stupid( at least not most of them). To get to such positions by only being smart is never enough: there's a plethora of skills and personal traits that play their part.

Lol, this is some nth order thought going on here. Simon's dimness isn't proofed by some bullshit crafted image but by how laggardly JPMorgan is due to Dimon's innate cautiousness. Dimon is just lucky to be head of America's largest bank at the turn of '08. Next you'll tell me IBM is a highly innovative company, I reckon.