More biased tidbits on the JPM issue
---Bloomberg today had a major post saying that civil trial lawyers were suing JPM for misinformtion and malfeasance. How may times does one need to say this here. It always happens. Whatever settlement these firms reach actually repays shareholders, out one pocket on the balance sheet and into another, EXCEPT for the 30% plus expenses that the trial lawyers receive. This is really legal extortion, and it is an accepted practice given that the trial lawyers are the Democrats largest contributors and no stranger to Republicans either. I will not mention John Edwards, oh I just did. I went through three SEC and FBI intimating sessions during my time, having done nothing wrong. They start out by saying anything that " they" deem as a mistatement is a felony and that is the starting point.
---Leading advocates for clawbacks and sanctions against JPM are Elizabeth Warren(the extremely rigid and tightly wired candidate for the U.S. Senate in her home state, but who could have been the perfect candidate for the the head of the consumer protection agency had she not been so almost stupidly anti-corporate in any way that would have allowed consumer access to credit), and John Liu, the New York city comptroller who is obviously corrupt and under numerous investigations for political fund accumulating vilolations, some so transparent that he will likely end up in jail.
---The role of the Dodd Frank bill in this debacle is still unexamined, and never will be. Could JPM in trying a conservative macro hedge have been told by their internal lawyers or external examiners to unwind it, as it could be perceived as a Dodd Frank violation. All unknown.
Postscript- I've thought about adding this commentary reluctantly, but since Ina is all over the news I will go ahead. When leaving JPM in mid-'03, the head of the investment bank was a former CEO of BofA who was not as competent as he viewed himself, manipulative, and viciously vindictive. It was great news when Jamie Dimon quickly dispensed with him after taking over from the very presentable C student Bill Harrison.
Unfortunately the decision was difficult and he made Bill Winters and Steve Black co-heads of the investment bank. Black was a long time associate of Dimon, really nice guy, smart for sure, but perhaps just as interested in having as many cars as Labron James or Floyd Mayweather. In sports that's maybe just an entitlement, in business it's an obsession that there is not time for. Winters, on the other hand, was a JPM veteran and one of the smartest capital markets professionals that could ever be encountered(that means among there things that he was so smart that he could explain what he was doing to people like me as well as talk to the tech nerds and engineering quants). He was a generally well liked almost too regular guy. He ran New York capital markets, then London, and then became co-head of the investment bank. My guess is that the co-head idea did not work. Winters quit or was fired and Black went home happily to his massive garage.
Then the new head of the investment bank became Jes Staley. That is something that I have never understood. He obviously has Dimon's confidence, which is troublesome. The thoughts of "competent, intelligent, or compassionate" never entered my mind whenever I met with him. Entitled and arrogant did. Securities analysts that he met with simply did not publish anything about the meetings out of, I think, sincerely puzzled thoughts or respect for the fact that I had set the meetings up. Now Staley is apparently angling to be named the next CEO or he will leave. Please, Mr. Dimon, let this self centered small minded man go his own way.
Of course, Staley may have changed, but when I first knew him in the early 2000's, in his former JPM role as head of part of the asset management division, he was obsessed with getting attention. His meetings with securities analysts were embarrassing bragging sessions. His comments at analyst meetings made almost no sense. The root cause of this whole disaster may be Staley. Maybe not, maybe I'm wrong, and his obvious blustery incompetence at the time was just an aspect of his insecurity. Who knows. Is he part of the inability to sort out the differences between the London and New York offices that caused this trading fiasco?
---Leading advocates for clawbacks and sanctions against JPM are Elizabeth Warren(the extremely rigid and tightly wired candidate for the U.S. Senate in her home state, but who could have been the perfect candidate for the the head of the consumer protection agency had she not been so almost stupidly anti-corporate in any way that would have allowed consumer access to credit), and John Liu, the New York city comptroller who is obviously corrupt and under numerous investigations for political fund accumulating vilolations, some so transparent that he will likely end up in jail.
---The role of the Dodd Frank bill in this debacle is still unexamined, and never will be. Could JPM in trying a conservative macro hedge have been told by their internal lawyers or external examiners to unwind it, as it could be perceived as a Dodd Frank violation. All unknown.
Postscript- I've thought about adding this commentary reluctantly, but since Ina is all over the news I will go ahead. When leaving JPM in mid-'03, the head of the investment bank was a former CEO of BofA who was not as competent as he viewed himself, manipulative, and viciously vindictive. It was great news when Jamie Dimon quickly dispensed with him after taking over from the very presentable C student Bill Harrison.
Unfortunately the decision was difficult and he made Bill Winters and Steve Black co-heads of the investment bank. Black was a long time associate of Dimon, really nice guy, smart for sure, but perhaps just as interested in having as many cars as Labron James or Floyd Mayweather. In sports that's maybe just an entitlement, in business it's an obsession that there is not time for. Winters, on the other hand, was a JPM veteran and one of the smartest capital markets professionals that could ever be encountered(that means among there things that he was so smart that he could explain what he was doing to people like me as well as talk to the tech nerds and engineering quants). He was a generally well liked almost too regular guy. He ran New York capital markets, then London, and then became co-head of the investment bank. My guess is that the co-head idea did not work. Winters quit or was fired and Black went home happily to his massive garage.
Then the new head of the investment bank became Jes Staley. That is something that I have never understood. He obviously has Dimon's confidence, which is troublesome. The thoughts of "competent, intelligent, or compassionate" never entered my mind whenever I met with him. Entitled and arrogant did. Securities analysts that he met with simply did not publish anything about the meetings out of, I think, sincerely puzzled thoughts or respect for the fact that I had set the meetings up. Now Staley is apparently angling to be named the next CEO or he will leave. Please, Mr. Dimon, let this self centered small minded man go his own way.
Of course, Staley may have changed, but when I first knew him in the early 2000's, in his former JPM role as head of part of the asset management division, he was obsessed with getting attention. His meetings with securities analysts were embarrassing bragging sessions. His comments at analyst meetings made almost no sense. The root cause of this whole disaster may be Staley. Maybe not, maybe I'm wrong, and his obvious blustery incompetence at the time was just an aspect of his insecurity. Who knows. Is he part of the inability to sort out the differences between the London and New York offices that caused this trading fiasco?
posted by John Borden at 1:30 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home