JPMorgan Unit’s London Staff May Go as Loss Prompts Exits
The entire London staff of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM)’s chief investment office is at risk of dismissal as a $2 billion trading loss prompts the first executive departures as soon as this week, a person familiar with the situation said.
Ina Drew, who oversees the unit, resigned today, the bank said in a statement. Joseph Evangelisti, a bank spokesman, said before her departure was announced that Drew would have no comment. While the firm is examining whether anyone in the unit, which employs a few dozen people in London, sought to hide risks, there isn’t yet evidence that’s the case, one of the people said.
Chief Executive Jamie Dimon, 56, announced the loss May 10, assailing his firm’s handling of trading in synthetic credit securities as “flawed, complex, poorly reviewed, poorly executed and poorly monitored.” Initially, he resisted accepting Drew’s resignation, the person said. The incident has given ammunition to proponents of stricter bank regulations.
Dimon “has to clarify the management changes that have to take place to ensure that a firm line has been drawn under this,” said Christopher Wheeler, a London-based analyst at Mediobanca SpA.
Shares of the company have lost more than 11 percent since the May 10 announcement of the loss. They dropped 1.9 percent in New York at 10:40 a.m., to $36.24.
Drew, 55, is one of two women on the operating committee at JPMorgan, the biggest and most profitable U.S. bank. Her office oversees about $360 billion, the difference between money from deposits and what the bank lends. Dimon had encouraged her unit to boost earnings by buying higher-yielding assets, including structured credit, equities and derivatives, in an expansion of risk-taking led by Achilles Macris, ex-employees said in April.
Macris, 50, and a trader on his team, Javier Martin-Artajo, also are leaving the New York-based firm with Drew, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday, citing the unidentified people. Macris and Martin-Artajo didn’t respond to messages left outside of regular business hours.
To contact the reporter on this story: Dawn Kopecki in New York at dkopecki@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: David Scheer at dscheer@bloomberg.net
JPMorgan Shakes Up CIO Unit Leaders
Simon Dawson/Bloomberg
Traffic passes the offices of JPMorgan Chase & Co., center, at London Wall in London.
Traffic passes the offices of JPMorgan Chase & Co., center, at London Wall in London. Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg
May 14 (Bloomberg) -- The entire London staff of JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s chief investment office is at risk of dismissal as a $2 billion trading loss prompts the first executive departures as soon as this week, a person familiar with the situation said. Ina Drew, who oversees the unit, is among three people set to leave, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday, citing unidentified people familiar with the situation. John Dawson reports on Bloomberg Television's "On the Move Asia." (Source: Bloomberg)
May 11 (Bloomberg) -- Jamie Dimon, chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co., and Bloomberg's Dawn Kopecki and Christine Harper talk about JPMorgan's $2 billion trading loss after what Dimon said was an "egregious" failure in the firm's chief investment office. This report also includes comments from Bloomberg Television contributing editors William Cohan, Thomas Brown and Neil Barofsky, Portales Partners' Charles Peabody, Aegis Capital's Stanley Crouch, Fifth Third Asset Management's Keith Wirtz and Rochdale Securities' Richard Bove. (Source: Bloomberg)
May 14 (Bloomberg) -- Alistair Scarff, an analyst at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Hong Kong, talks about JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s $2 billion trading loss and its implications for banking regulation and Asian banks. Scarff also discusses China's banking industry and the reserve ratio cut announced by the People's Bank of China on May 12. He speaks with Susan Li on Bloomberg Television's "First Up." (Source: Bloomberg)
May 10 (Bloomberg) -- Thursday's "Bloomberg Rewind" includes a discussion of the biggest news of the day and wrap-up of the markets. (Source: Bloomberg)
May 14 (Bloomberg) -- William Rogers, chief executive officer of SunTrust Banks Inc., talks about JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s $2 billion trading loss, financial regulations and the outlook for the U.S. housing market. He speaks with Betty Liu on Bloomberg Television's "In the Loop." (Source: Bloomberg)
May 14 (Bloomberg) -- Simon Johnson, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a former economist at the International Monetary Fund, talks about the outlook for JPMorgan Chase & Co. following the disclosure the company suffered a $2 billion trading loss. Johnson, speaking with Deirdre Bolton on Bloomberg Television's "In the Loop," also discusses the prospects Greece will exit the euro. (Source: Bloomberg)
JPMorgan Credit Rating Cut by Fitch on $2 Billion Trading Loss
Peter Foley/Bloomberg
Signage stands outside JP Morgan Chase & Co. headquarters in New York.
Signage stands outside JP Morgan Chase & Co. headquarters in New York. Photographer: Peter Foley/Bloomberg
JPMorgan Chase CIO Ina Drew
JPMorgan Chase & Co. via Bloomberg
JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Investment Officer Ina Drew.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Investment Officer Ina Drew. Source: JPMorgan Chase & Co. via Bloomberg
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