Thursday, May 17, 2012

Chase's WMD's

My post have been infrequent of late, but this one is significant in my mind.  The most significant aspect is Chase's desire to "play it down" as a non-event.  Two billion dollars...non-event...really?

JPMorgan Chase's 'Jamie the Great': tap dancing with derivatives.  
"JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, the shining industry agitator against some of the tougher regulations on banks, has suddenly become the shining example of why still tougher regulations may be needed, writes Maureen Dowd.A nd it was. A $2 billion credit derivatives trading bungle that could mushroom to a $4 billion loss. The shining industry agitator against some of the tougher regulations on banks has suddenly become the shining example of why still tougher regulations may be needed.  But now the blunt 56-year-old New York City native who snowed Democrats in Washington with all his talk about not lumping in "good banks" with "bad banks" has fallen off his pedestal.  Talking even faster than usual, the tarnished silver-haired banker told shareholders that he couldn't justify the "self-inflicted" debacle. While the trade was "poorly vetted and poorly executed," he said it wouldn't make a dent in the "fortress balance sheet.""
Source: Seattle Times

"I don't know if it will happen in 2010, but I believe that one of the next 'too big to fails' will be JPM Chase. They hold more derivatives than any other company in the world. We've just seen the beginning of the derivative implosion. Remember, Warren called them 'weapons of mass destruction'."
Random Roving, January 1, 2010