"While we have repeatedly acknowledged significant mistakes, our senior management acted in good faith and never had any intent to mislead anyone." Unidentified JPMorgan spokesperson, quoted by Jessica Silver-Greenberg and Ben Protess, "Senate Inquiry Faults JPMorgan on Trading Loss / Rebuke for the C.E.O. / Bank Seen as Ignoring Big Risks -- Hearing is Set on Issues" p. A1, col. 6 (New York Times Nat'l ed., Friday, March 15, 2013).
"Let me be clear, JPMorgan completely disregarded risk limits and stonewalled federal regulators. This bank appears to have entertained, indeed embraced, the fact that it was too big to fail." Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.), quoted by Jim Puzzanghera, "Former 'London Whale' Boss at JPMorgan Admits Mistakes" (Los Angeles Times Online, posted Friday, March 15, 2013), in a newspaper report about the Senate investigation and report on "$6.2 billion" worth of JPMorgan "mistakes".
JPMorgan Chase is far and away "the bank that enjoys the best reputation among its peers." JPMorgan is also the largest trader in derivatives on the face of the earth. Gretchen Morgenson, "Fair Game / JPMorgan's Follies, For All To See" p. 1, col. 1 (New York Times Nat'l ed., "SundayBusiness" Section, Sunday, March 17, 2013).
Reportedly when its London traders increasingly provoked JPMorgan's own internal measure of risk to sound the alarm that something destructive might be happening or about to happen, JPMorgan changed the metric it used to measure risk. The change was made in January, 2012 and enabled the London traders "to continue building the big bets, the [U.S. Senate] subcommittee found." Jessica Silver-Greenberg and Ben Protess, New York Times, supra. See, in addition, Jim Puzzanghera, Los Angeles Times, supra.
The change was "personally authorized" by JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon. Jessica Silver-Greenberg and Ben Protess, New York Times, supra.
"No, that is not acceptable practice." Testimony of Douglas L. Browstein, Vice Chair, JPMorgan, quoted by Gretchen Morgenson, New York Times, supra. Here is a link to the Witness Testimony and the senators' statements at the Hearing of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Homeland Security held on Friday, March 15, 2013.
"[F]ive former and current JPMorgan executives [were called] to testify about the trades at a six-hour hearing -- and they all sought to pass the buck." Jim Puzzanghera, Los Angeles Times, supra.
In the utmost Good Faith and with no intent to mislead anyone about the risk disclosed only to JPMorgan by JPMorgan by its original metric. Absolutely.
One ironic feature of interest in JPMorgan's suspect trading activities, apparently totally unmentioned in the newspaper reports, is that JPMorgan was trading in Credit Default Swaps (CDS's), otherwise known as unregulated Credit Insurance. See "JPMorgan Chase Whale Trades: A Case of History of Derivatives Risks and Abuses," Report of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Committee on Homeland Security, United States Senate, in particular pages 29-30 and search the document for "credit default swaps" (307 pages; stated "Released in Conjunction With The Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations March 15, 2013 Hearing"): Download REPORT - JPMorgan Chase Whale Trades (3-15-13)2[1].
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