USA TODAY: Shares of JPMorgan Chase (JPM) tumbled in premarket trading Thursday as a published report said the bank’s losses on a bad trade may reach as much as $9 billion — far higher than the estimated $2 billion loss disclosed last month…
The New York Times, citing sources it did not identify by name, said the losses have grown recently as JPMorgan has been unwinding its positions. The newspaper said its sources were current and former traders and executives at JPMorgan, which is the largest bank in the U.S. by assets.
At the time of the loss, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon apologized to shareholders. And just days after the loss was disclosed, Chief Investment Officer Ina Drew left the company. Drew oversaw the trading group responsible for the trade.
EDITOR: If this were but a concern of JPMorgan stock holders, we wouldn’t care much. But the bank is “too big to fail” which means that U. S. tax payers have to pick up much of the losses through back door shenanigans when the banking system begins to totter.
We need to return to the time when banks were not allowed to do speculative investment on their own behalf.
