Fallout Begins from Big JPMorgan Chase Loss

Posted May 15th, 2012 at 4:20 am (UTC-5)
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The chairman and chief executive officer of U.S.-based JPMorgan Chase investment company, is expected to face tough questions from investors Tuesday about the company's $2 billion trading loss.

Jamie Dimon will appear at the company's annual meeting in Tampa, Florida, just days after he announced the massive loss. JPMorgan's stock price has declined well over 10 percent since Dimon broke the news last Thursday.

The fallout from the announcement has already begun. The firm announced Monday that chief investment officer Ina Drew is retiring after 30 years at JPMorgan. Drew's London division was responsible for the trading scheme that led to the losses. Other officials are rumored to be quitting.

Dimon, who said the transactions were “poorly reviewed, poorly executed and poorly monitored,” has strongly opposed new U.S. laws aimed at imposing tighter controls of complex financial transactions involving millions of dollars.

But during an appearance on ABC-TV's popular daytime talk show “The View,” U.S. President Barack Obama says the JPMorgan debacle proves that strong regulations are needed to keep the nation's financial sector from making the same mistakes that led to the 2008 global economic crisis.

“This is the best or one of the best managed banks. You could have a bank that isn't as strong, isn't as profitable making those same bets and we might have had to step in and that's exactly why Wall Street reform is so important.”

JPMorgan's investors are also expected to vote on a plan that would split the positions of chairman and CEO.

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