Jpmorgan Chase

Before Washington Mutual collapsed in the largest bank failure in U.S. history, its executives knowingly created a "mortgage time bomb" by making subprime loans they knew were likely to go bad and then packaging them into risky securities, a congressional investigation has found. In some cases, the bank took loans in which it had discovered fraudulent activity -- such as misstated income by borrowers -- and rolled them into mortgage securities sold to investors without disclosing the fraud, according to the report released Monday by the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.

WASHINGTON — The public won't be protected from the type of risky bets that led to the huge trading loss at JPMorgan Chase & Co. until new rules are approved to allow better monitoring of complicated derivatives transactions, two key federal regulators told a Senate committee. As it was, the heads of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said Tuesday that they learned of the unusual trading activity that led to JPMorgan's $2.3-billion trading loss through media reports.

The Obama administration has punished three of the nation's largest banks, judging them unworthy of receiving financial incentives through its signature foreclosure relief program until they improve their practices. Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. were found to be in need of "substantial improvement" under the $75-billion Home Affordable Modification Program, officials said. It was the first time that the administration had taken any major punitive action against the banks in its program, which has been criticized by consumer advocates and Republicans as ineffective and falling short of its goals.

Jamie Dimon, chairman and chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co., still won't say how much the bank could wind up losing from risky trades that cost it at least $2 billion. "We're not going to give a running tally on losses," Dimon said at a Deutsche Bank investor conference in Manhattan. JPMorgan recently disclosed the bank lost $2 billion in complicated trades in its chief investment office, and said the losses could widen by as much as $1 billion. A recent account in the Wall Street Journal reported the trades could result in as much as $5 billion in losses.

WASHINGTON - Aiming squarely at GOP critics of Wall Street reform, President Obama said Saturday that investment bank JPMorgan's stunning $2-billion loss serves as a reminder of the importance of Washington's role in preventing another financial crisis. The 2010 financial overhaul law counts among Obama's signature legislative achievements, but it continues to come under attack by Republicans in Congress and on the campaign trail, including likely presidential nominee Mitt Romney, as an example of government overreach.

TAMPA, Fla. - After surviving a push to oust him as chairman, embattled JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Jamie Dimon now faces a Justice Department probe into how the bank lost $2 billion from risky trades. The investigation, being handled by the FBI's financial crimes squad in New York, is still at a preliminary stage. But it adds to mounting scrutiny into the bank's global trading business, which already is the target of inquiries by the Federal Reserve and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Jamie Dimon, chairman and chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co., still won't say how much the bank could wind up losing from risky trades that cost it at least $2 billion. "We're not going to give a running tally on losses," Dimon said at a Deutsche Bank investor conference in Manhattan. JPMorgan recently disclosed the bank lost $2 billion in complicated trades in its chief investment office, and said the losses could widen by as much as $1 billion. A recent account in the Wall Street Journal reported the trades could result in as much as $5 billion in losses.

In a move to reduce its debt load, Technicolor said JPMorgan Chase & Co. would acquire as much as a 29% stake in the Paris-based media and entertainment technology company. Technicolor, which has a large digital services and postproduction operation in Hollywood, said the JPMorgan transaction and a related stock offering would reduce the company's debt by as much as 126 million euros (about $165.7 million), slashing annual debt service payments by 10 million euros ($13.2 million)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. said in a regulatory filing that it expected about $450 million in home equity loan losses for the first quarter, and that home equity losses could be double that by the fourth quarter. The filing elaborated on information given to investors during JPMorgan's Investor Day on Wednesday, when bank executives said they expected loan charge-offs to increase sharply in 2008.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. plans to lift its 40-state freeze on home foreclosures later in November but said it would take several months to redo improperly filed paperwork. The company, the No. 3 U.S. mortgage lender, imposed the freeze on about 127,000 delinquent home loans last month to assess whether they were being handled correctly. The loans were made in states that require court orders for foreclosures and states with relatively complicated nonjudicial processes, but not in California and other states with streamlined procedures.

WASHINGTON - Aiming squarely at GOP critics of Wall Street reform, President Obama said Saturday that investment bank JPMorgan's stunning $2-billion loss serves as a reminder of the importance of Washington's role in preventing another financial crisis. The 2010 financial overhaul law counts among Obama's signature legislative achievements, but it continues to come under attack by Republicans in Congress and on the campaign trail, including likely presidential nominee Mitt Romney, as an example of government overreach.

TAMPA, Fla. - After surviving a push to oust him as chairman, embattled JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Jamie Dimon now faces a Justice Department probe into how the bank lost $2 billion from risky trades. The investigation, being handled by the FBI's financial crimes squad in New York, is still at a preliminary stage. But it adds to mounting scrutiny into the bank's global trading business, which already is the target of inquiries by the Federal Reserve and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The first heads are expected to roll as early as this week at JPMorgan Chase & Co., after the disclosure of a $2-billion trading loss that has rekindled fears about excessive risk taking on Wall Street. Three employees involved in the unit at fault for the losses are expected to leave the firm, although it is unclear precisely when, according to a source familiar with the matter who was unauthorized to speak publicly. Ina Drew, who has overseen the bank's chief investment office, is the highest-ranking JPMorgan employee expected to leave in the wake of the trading blunder revealed Thursday, according to the source.

WASHINGTON - JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon acknowledged Sunday that his company's $2-billion trading loss could empower government regulators seeking to place tighter controls on risky trades by large banks. "This is a very unfortunate and inopportune time to have had this kind of mistake," Dimon said in an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press" with David Gregory. But the head of America's largest bank brushed aside the suggestion that the loss underscored the persistent risk posed by mismanagement at large banks more than three years after a financial crisis that forced billions of dollars in taxpayer bailouts.

WASHINGTON - The $2-billion trading loss at JPMorgan Chase & Co. rekindled fears about the stunning risks still being taken on Wall Street, reviving demands for tougher financial rules and calls for the nation's biggest banks to be broken up. U.S. and British regulators said they were investigating the huge loss in a trading portfolio at JPMorgan. The bank saw its stock tumble 9% on Friday, the day after it disclosed that traders in New York and London had made misguided investments in complex derivatives in an effort to hedge against losses.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Campaigning in North Carolina on Friday, Mitt Romney made no mention of two of the biggest issues in the news this week - the revelation of a $2-billion trading loss by JPMorgan Chase & Co. and the state's vote earlier this week for an amendment to the state Constitution banning gay marriage. Instead Romney largely stuck to his usual stump speech at a pipe factory here on the outskirts of downtown Charlotte, lamenting the state of the economy at a facility where the owner proudly noted that they had been able to avoid layoffs for 30 years.

What a difference a year makes. Last year at this time, JPMorgan Chase & Co. offset losses generated by struggling retail customers with profits from securities trading. Now it is the ordinary folks who are helping make up for declining profits from classic Wall Street businesses. JPMorgan, a giant commercial bank as well as a large securities brokerage and investment bank, said Friday that it earned $4.86 billion, or $1.12 a share, in the fourth quarter, up 47% from a year earlier.

Shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co., the second-largest U.S. bank by assets, fell 4.8% after the company reported that profit declined on a slump in investment banking and trading. Shares dropped $1.60 to $31.60 on Thursday after the bank reported that third-quarter earnings fell to about $3.1 billion, or 73 cents a share, not including a 29-cent accounting gain, from $4.71 billion a year earlier. Revenue at the investment-banking unit slid 13% from the second quarter as concern that Greece would default and U.S. lawmakers would fail to raise the debt ceiling roiled markets.

Barely four years after Wall Street's wrong-way bets plunged the world into a financial crisis, JPMorgan Chase & Co. admitted it lost $2 billion from a trading portfolio that was supposed to have helped the bank manage credit risk. "These were egregious mistakes," said Chief Executive Jamie Dimon, who is considered one of the world's savviest bankers. "We have egg on our face, and we deserve any criticism we get. " The announcement stunned the financial industry, in part because it came from such a highly regarded bank.