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JPMorgan Resignations: Three Executives At Bank Reportedly Will Resign Following $2 Billion Loss

AP  |  Posted: 05/13/2012 5:19 pm Updated: 05/14/2012 6:55 pm

Jpmorgan Resignations
In this July 12, 2011 photo, JPMorgan Chase and Co. Manhattan headquarters in New York is shown. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) -- Three high-ranking executives at JPMorgan Chase are expected to leave their jobs this week after a trading blunder cost the bank $2 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.

The Journal, citing people familiar with the situation, reported that one of the executives is Ina Drew, who for seven years has run the risk-management division at the bank responsible for the loss.

The other two identified by the newspaper are an executive in charge of the London desk that placed the trades and a managing director on that team. The bank did not immediately return a message from The Associated Press.

The $2 billion loss, disclosed on Thursday by CEO Jamie Dimon, has been an embarrassment for the bank and led lawmakers and critics of the banking industry to call for tougher regulation of Wall Street.

On Friday, investors shaved almost 10 percent off JPMorgan's stock price. Dimon said in a TV interview aired Sunday that he was "dead wrong" when he dismissed concerns about the bank's trading last month.

"We made a terrible, egregious mistake," Dimon said in an interview that was taped Friday and aired on NBC's "Meet the Press." "There's almost no excuse for it."

Dimon said he did not know the extent of the problem when he said in April that the concerns were a "tempest in a teapot."

The loss came in the past six weeks. Dimon has said it came from trading in so-called credit derivatives and was designed to hedge against financial risk, not to make a profit for the bank.

Dimon said the bank is open to inquiries from regulators. He has also promised, in an email to the bank's employees and in a conference call with stock analysts, to get to the bottom of what happened and learn from the mistake.

Dimon told NBC that he supported giving the government the authority to dismantle a failing big bank and wipe out shareholder equity. But he stressed that JPMorgan, the largest bank in the United States, is "very strong."

A piece of financial regulation known as the Volcker rule would prevent banks from certain kinds of trading for their own profit. Dimon has said the trading involved in the $2 billion loss would not have fallen under the rule.

Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., told ABC's "This Week" that he hopes the final version of the Volcker rule will prevent the type of trading that led to the massive loss at JPMorgan.

Dimon conceded to NBC that the bank "hurt ourselves and our credibility" and expects to "pay the price for that." Asked what the price should be, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said that banks will lose their fight to weaken the rule.

"This was not a risk-reducing activity that they engaged in. This increased their risk," Levin told NBC.

"So we've got to be very, very careful that the regulators here are not undermined by this huge effort to weaken the rule by putting in a huge loophole" that includes the trading involved in the JPMorgan loss, he said.

Addressing public anger toward Wall Street, Dimon said he wants a more equitable society and does not mind paying higher taxes. But he said attacking all of business is "very counterproductive."

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  • JPMorgan Chase Loses $2 Billion

    On May 10th, the U.S.'s largest bank JPMorgan Chase announced one of its London trading desks had lost <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/10/jpmorgan-chase-london-whale_n_1507662.html?ref=business" target="_hplink">$2 billion on bad bets on credit derivatives</a>.

  • UBS Trader Loses $2 Billion

    Kweku Adoboli, a trader for Swiss bank UBS, lost <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/15/ubs-traders_n_963715.html" target="_hplink">$2 billion on unauthorized trades in September 2011</a>.

  • MF Global Collapse

    Brokerage firm <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/31/mf-global-to-file-for-bankruptcy_n_1066902.html" target="_hplink">MF Global filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy</a> in October 2011 after a failed $6 billion bet on European debt.

  • Rogue Societe General Trader Loses $6 Billion

    Hailed as "history's biggest rogue trading scandal" at the time, French trader Jerome Kerviel was convicted in October 2010 of <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/05/jerome-kerviel-rogue-fren_n_750464.html" target="_hplink">losing French bank Societe General around $6 billion</a> due to unauthorized trades.

  • Bear Sterns Bought By JPMorgan Chase

    After a run on investment bank Bear Sterns nearly caused its collapse in 2007, JPMorgan bought the firm for $2 a share the following March, <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/mar2008/db20080316_356646.htm" target="_hplink">Businessweek</a> reports.

  • AIG Largest Single Bailout

    Insurance company AIG became the recipient of the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/08/aig-bailout-realize-15-billion-profit-taxpaers-gao_n_1498645.html" target="_hplink">largest ever government bailout for a single corporation</a> when a $182 billion rescue package saved it from a liquidity crisis following a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/08/aig-bailout-realize-15-billion-profit-taxpaers-gao_n_1498645.html" target="_hplink">downgrade of its credit rating</a> in 2008.

  • Washington Mutual Bankruptcy

    One of the biggest players in retail banking and mortgages during the housing crisis, Washington Mutual filed for Chapter 11 in September 2008, after sustaining losses on billions of dollars worth of mortgage and home loans, <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/46793926/WaMu_Emerges_From_Bankruptcy_Protection" target="_hplink">CNBC</a> reports.

  • Citigroup Bailout

    Citigroup came to the brink of collapse after it reported losses around $10 billion in 2007, in part due to failed mortgage investments, <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2008/01/15/news/companies/citigroup_earnings/index.htm" target="_hplink">CNNMoney</a> reported. To keep the bank afloat the government issued <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/23/feds-consider-plan-to-res_n_145856.html" target="_hplink">a $20 billion bailout in November of that year</a>.

  • Merill Lynch Shocks Investors With Big Loss

    After projecting a $4.5 billion loss during the third quarter of 2007, Merrill Lynch shocked investors by reporting a $7.9 billion deficit from trading mortgage-backed securities and other structured products, <a href="http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/11/26/101232838/" target="_hplink">according to CNNMoney</a>.

  • Barings Bank Collapse

    One time star trader Nick Leeson was responsible for sinking British bank Barings after losing $1 billion when an an earthquake struck Kobe, Japan in 1995, causing his investments in the Nikkei to fail as the Japanese stock exchange crashed, <a href="http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1937349_1937350_1937488,00.html" target="_hplink">TIME reported</a>.

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The Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) -- Three high-ranking executives at JPMorgan Chase are expected to leave their jobs this week after a trading blunder cost the bank $2 billion, The Wall Street Jo...
The Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) -- Three high-ranking executives at JPMorgan Chase are expected to leave their jobs this week after a trading blunder cost the bank $2 billion, The Wall Street Jo...
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10:54 AM on 05/15/2012
Three high-ranking executives that have said they will resign will get a multi million payout. Tough way to leave a company and they will just be hired by another big bank because of there unique skills and it all starts again.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
TimeMaster
I see A, You see B, C is Correct
08:10 PM on 05/14/2012
Risk Management, it was more like Risk Encouragement. Bigger bets = Bigger rewards! They can fire whoever they think will serve as scapegoats, in the end the game will continue...look for a $4 billion loss the next time. After all it's only other people's money.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Transitteer
and another thing . . .
06:18 PM on 05/14/2012
Doing the same stuff they were doing that brought about the financial collapse of the U.S. and the West in general and they get to "resign"??? Fire them. Then jail them.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
McAttorney
Speak softly and have a great schtick
02:02 PM on 05/14/2012
Three executives "sentenced" to spend summers in the Hamptons and winters in Aspen.

I guess anything less than a $3 billion loss and Jamie gets to keep his job and salary...
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
nettwench
Dedicated Truther!
11:53 AM on 05/14/2012
Yeah, yeah, yeah - how much is your golden parachute going to be, buddy???

Who in their right mind, even the all-powerful Wall Street banker-gods, could say after the 2008-09 debacle that no more regulations are needed??? EVERYBODY knew the same thing could happen again. THIS IS NO SURPRISE, least of all to MR. DIMON!!

They all think they are too slick and too smart to get caught short. Bull-loney!
kellygreen
"Ideology is the Science of Idiots" John Adams
02:33 PM on 05/14/2012
"It is difficult to get somone to understand something when their salary depends upon not understanding it."

---Upton Sinclair.

Regulation is about reducing risk in order to promote stability. These guys have a business model that demands that they take ever higher risks in order to generate their bonuses, and the returns their customers and shareholders demand.

So they resist regulation (less potential profit), and keep juggling more and more knives until finally someone loses a hand.

After which they cart the wounded off the field and insist that nothing's wrong.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
nettwench
Dedicated Truther!
01:31 PM on 05/16/2012
Great quote! It's just astonishing how highly irrational these people are! A lot of these people lost REAL money when this happened, and they're happily signing on for more of the same? Why not just go to Vegas! We can't run a stable economy that way - the taxpayers are going to guarantee all their bad bets? That's a great deal - for them!! Not so much for the rest of us!
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
nettwench
Dedicated Truther!
03:44 PM on 05/23/2012
The juggling knives analogy is so apt!
11:43 AM on 05/14/2012
Weren't these three men from JP Morgan the same people along with the executive offiicers at Chase that funneled 20 Billions Dollars to the government of Greece not so long ago? This 2 billion dollars was just transactions fees set up with the Republican Congress to get the deal done. After all, what was left of the 20 billion dollars after the bankers got their commission was left for the millions of people in Greece to survive on.
11:30 AM on 05/14/2012
These guys will resign and probably get a couple of million to tide them over! In my day....YOU WERE FIRED!!!
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
AgainstAnimalAbuse
The end justifies the means
01:47 PM on 05/14/2012
They should be prosecuted not allowed to resign and then get a job elsewhere so they can do it again!
01:33 AM on 05/25/2012
I can't remember back when anyone was prosecuted! Since 2008 nobody has gone to jail.
10:45 AM on 05/14/2012
Until 2008 very few folks had any need to understand risk management or derivatives. Today we all understand what these toxic derivatives did to the world economy. It indicates nothing has change on wall street. Now we see the COE of the bank using the time tested finger pointing of ,it was others . Is he running the company or not . Is there not a board that sets policy.It is the old Mikie did it once again. Do what every ,just make sur you have someone to use as the fall guy.
10:43 AM on 05/14/2012
more bloodsuckers down the drain,now after their big blunders how much will they be paid for resigning,go to hell all you pitiful people,you are not laughing all the way to the bank now,are you?
10:31 AM on 05/14/2012
Could you just imagine the 1000's upon thousands of foreclosed properties TWO BILLION DOLLARS could buy? Now, ask yourself who are the people that are making all the foreclosures?
10:20 AM on 05/14/2012
This is the very reasons why we need strict banking regulations. But, our Republican Congress is totally and completely against it.
mayanindependentspeak
Until now, I've never lived this long before
10:11 AM on 05/14/2012
When the reward for success and failure is exactly the same, as it is for these corporate executives, they have no incentive to to succeed. They win no matter what happens.

When there is no penalty for failure, people will continue to fail.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Doris Hochman
SUSIEQUSIE
10:11 AM on 05/14/2012
ANYONE ELSE SEE THE SAME TITLE WITH ONE WORD (AMERICAN) SUBSTITUTED FOR ROMAN....

HINT: 'DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE"
10:36 AM on 05/14/2012
About this decline...couldn't you just imagine the 1000's upon thousands of properties FORCLOSED on by this bank alone. Could you now just imagine how many foreclosed properties you could buy with TWO BILLION DOLLARS?????????
This user has chosen to opt out of the Badges program
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12:24 PM on 05/14/2012
I've said that for a few years now. And Romney will break out the fiddle if he's elected.
mayanindependentspeak
Until now, I've never lived this long before
10:08 AM on 05/14/2012
Why don't the people responsible for this not only say that they accept responsibility for it, but they actually do take responsibility for it?

How about they take their own money and repay the $2B to the company and it's investors.

Dimon saying that the company is doing well and that it's still strong doesn't bring back the $2B. Actions speak louder than words.
01:52 PM on 05/14/2012
That 2 billion could have been used to pay their depositors some interest on their savings accounts which is .01 % now?
kellygreen
"Ideology is the Science of Idiots" John Adams
02:40 PM on 05/14/2012
When these investment banks used to be privately owned, the executives and traders used to have to do that.

If the bank lost a lot of money as a result of a decision that a partner made, the rest of the firm could "clawback" (take back) any salary or bonus associated with that decision as restitution to the firm.

It had the effect of making people more responsible with risk-taking.

But now you have bonus system that doesn't feature these clawbacks, and rewards only short-term profits. So you have a classic "moral hazard" situation where these guys essentially get to gamble with other people's money.

Heads I win big....Tails, someone else loses big.

So you get these traders who take massive risks, because theres a huge upside if they win...and little downside (to them individually) if they blow up the company when they don't.
10:08 AM on 05/14/2012
Notice that they resigned and they weren't fired. Aren't these big banks fantastic. CREDIT UNION, CREDIT UNION, CREDIT UNION