JPMorgan Chase boss Jamie Dimon has labelled Wells Fargo "irresponsible" for announcing the departure of its chief executive without a replacement in place, in a rare public attack by a big US bank on a
Jamie Dimon calls Wells Fargo 'irresponsible' for lack of CEO plan
A Wells Fargo spokeswoman declined to comment on Dimon's remarks, or on how the search for a new chief executive is progressing. The bank's shares are down almost 6 per cent since it announced Sloan was leaving.
Dimon, who runs America's biggest bank by assets, also warned that investment banking fees would be US$200 million ($305.6m) lower than some analysts had pencilled in for the second quarter. Two months into the quarter, he told the conference audience, "you have the wrong number for investment banking fees, it's going to be closer to US$1.7 billion".
By contrast, the bank reported investment banking fees of US$2.2b in the second quarter of last year. Dimon said JPMorgan had held its share in a market that is "a little bit lower".
The 63-year old added that JPMorgan's underlying second-quarter revenue would be "a couple of percentage points" lower relative to a year earlier in an "OK" environment compared with a "quite good" second quarter in 2018.
Dimon also stuck a more optimistic tone on the US economy. "It isn't like you have to have a recession . . . It might be we're in the last third [of the economic cycle] — that third could be five more years," he said.
Still, he warned that ongoing trade tensions had gone from "a skirmish to being far more important than that . . . You already see businesses trying to think about moving their supply lines and things like that."
Dimon repeated his criticism of what he called overregulation in the financial system, bemoaning the "mind numbing paperwork and bureaucracy that is sucking this country dry".
He also took aim at the "never-ending hyperventilation" on risks since the financial crisis, saying: "You bear risks in a bank . . . you know there's going to be a cycle."
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Written by: Laura Noonan
© Financial Times