Nov. 13 (Bloomberg) -- JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said structured investment vehicles, whose assets have dwindled by at least $75 billion since July, will ``go the way of the dinosaur.''

The entities, also known as SIVs, borrow in the short-term commercial paper market to invest in longer-dated securities ranging from mortgage bonds to bank debt.

``SIVs don't have a business purpose,'' Dimon told a conference hosted by Merrill Lynch & Co. in New York today.

JPMorgan joined larger rivals Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. in forming an $80 billion fund to help revive the market for short-term debt. The banks are pushing to have the fund in place by year-end because SIVs have been unable to get credit as subprime mortgage losses drive investors from all but the safest debt.

Dimon said JPMorgan's participation in the so-called master liquidity enhancement conduit, or M-LEC, is meant to help SIVs ``properly liquidate'' and ease a credit-market crisis that's dried up funding for many finance companies.

JPMorgan climbed $2.66, or 6.3 percent, to $45.05 at 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have lost 6.7 percent this year, compared with a 19 percent decline in the 24-member KBW Bank Index.

The net asset value of SIVs has fallen to 71 percent of initial capital from 102 percent in June, Moody's Investors Service said last week. Net asset value measures the difference between SIV assets and liabilities, expressed as a percentage of capital.

Shrinking Market

The asset-backed commercial paper market has contracted for 13 straight weeks in the U.S. and last week declined the most in two months. Debt maturing in 270 days or less and backed by mortgages, credit-card loans and other assets fell $29.5 billion, or 3.4 percent, to a seasonally adjusted $845.2 billion for the week that ended Nov. 7, according to the U.S. Federal Reserve.

Firms including Bank of America, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Baltimore-based Legg Mason Inc. are propping up their money-market funds to cushion them from losses on debt issued by SIVs.

Bank of America Chief Financial Officer Joe Price said today that the bank may provide as much as $600 million to funds that bought debt from SIVs. The bank also said it may need to write down $3 billion in debt securities in the fourth quarter.

Dimon said today JPMorgan's exposure to collateralized debt obligations was ``fine.''

BlackRock's Fink

Other CEOs were less optimistic. BlackRock Inc. CEO Laurence Fink said today at the conference that credit losses will get worse and many firms didn't fully understand the potential blow to earnings.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc., the world's most profitable investment bank, is continuing to bet that mortgage-backed securities and collateralized debt obligations created by packaging bonds into new securities will fall, CEO Lloyd Blankfein said at the conference.

Goldman doesn't plan to take any significant writedowns on mortgage-related assets, he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Elizabeth Hester in New York at ehester@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 13, 2007 16:09 EST