2012-05-11 16:55:15 JPMorgan's $2 Billion Loss Sends Shockwaves |
BY NATHAN BYRNE
ANCHOR CHRISTINA HARTMAN
JPMorgan's CEO shared an unpleasant surprise with shareholders Thursday.
CNN calls it a $2 billion bombshell.
"Jamie Dimon absolutely stunned Wall Street by admitting in a conference call that a trading portfolio that was designed to help JPMorgan actually hedge its credit risk lost $2 billion ... "
And it may not end there.
Dimon detailed to Bloomberg the road could get rougher.
"A trade so large and so complex, he said it will take months to unwind and told us that the losses could grow by a billion dollars or more."
$2 billion? $3 billion?
That's a lot of money.
Enough for the concern to reach well outside the walls of JPMorgan.
"For the most part, they said these trading losses are manageable by JPMorgan, they're not so much worried about that, but there is concern about the reputational risk, not only for JPMorgan, but also for the banking industry as a whole."
An HLN correspondent sees the controversy colliding with regulation conversations in Washington.
" ... after the financial crisis, some people say, 'you need more rules because you can ruin the economy.' You think banks agree? No. This bank, Jamie Dimon, its CEO has been arguing, 'no, no, no, we need less rules.'"
And naturally, the discussion on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" connected the issue to the presidential race.
Chris Matthews: " ... and as long as we don't hear that going through November, this election's going to be very dicey for Obama."
Joe Scarborough: "And by the way ... "
Chris Matthews: "That's as simple as you can make it."
Joe Scarborough: " ... JPMorganChase lost $2 billion because they were betting on the economy turning around."
Meanwhile, Dimon's pinning the financial failure on a man who's already earned a moniker in the mess.
Fox Business explains the CEO's concession.
"... the losses were related to what's being nicknamed 'The London Whale,' Bruno Iksil, who runs the desk in London that is supposed to basically protect the balance sheet via hedges, via derivatives trades."
Another mystery — a blogger for DealBreaker says Dimon told shareholders that trader had violated something called "The Dimon Principle." No definition, though, on just what that means -- yet. |