By Pam Martens: June 20, 2012 The House of Representatives held a hearing at 9:00 a.m. this morning titled “Market Structure: Ensuring Orderly, Efficient, Innovative and Competitive Markets for Issuers and Investors.” The hearing was convened by the Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises Subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee.  The panel included no one representing the public’s voice. Four of the panelists called attention to the loss of confidence that the public now has in the stock market.  Those views are in stark contrast to the perpetually repeated statement by Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, that “We have the widest, deepest and best capital markets in the world.”  There are now 264,000 links at Google’s search engine to some variation of that statement by Jamie Dimon, e.g., “the best capital markets,” “the widest, deepest and most transparent capital markets.”  The gap between Dimon’s statement and … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens: June 19, 2012 The House Financial Services Committee was in hearing session for four hours today on JPMorgan Chase’s losses and the only thing that was materially different from last week’s Senate Banking hearing was the tie of Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase. America’s mega banks that are too big to fail are now viewed as too big to manage,  too big to regulate and the latest incarnation, too big to tell the truth to the American people for fear of a panic.  Repeatedly during the hearing today, Chairman Spencer Bachus, Republican from Alabama, interrupted fellow members of the Committee who attempted to probe the size or specifics of the losses. The impression was that a deal had been made with JPMorgan’s lawyers that these subjects would be quickly shot down by the Chair. The House Financial Services committee also heard from the siloed regulators … Continue reading →

JPMorgan Chase & Co. will present a review of second quarter results and an update on its losses in its Chief Investment Office on July 13 at 7:30 a.m. (Eastern). The presentation, including a question and answer session, are expected to conclude at approximately 9:30 a.m. (Eastern). The general public can access the conference call via the following numbers: (866) 541-2724 or (877) 368-8360 in the U.S. and Canada; (706) 634-7246 for international callers. Callers are requested to dial in 10 minutes prior to the start of the call. The live audio webcast and presentation slides will be available at www.jpmorganchase.com under Investor Relations/Investor Presentations.

By Pam Martens: June 18, 2012 Mary Schapiro, Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, has released her written statement for tomorrow’s hearing before the House Financial Services Committee regarding JPMorgan Chase’s losses. Based on the text, a number of problematic areas may arise for Chairman and CEO, Jamie Dimon, who signed off on the firm’s first quarter financial filings with the SEC: Was there adequate disclosure of the credit default insurance sold to hedge funds and the ensuing income the firm was receiving from this high risk source; Was the potential for losses on all synthetic credit products adequately described; Did the firm properly detail the collateral calls that could arise on these synthetic credit derivatives. Why wasn’t the change to the VAR (Value at Risk) disclosed to investors? Read the full text of the statement here.

By Pam Martens: June 18, 2012 You didn’t really think the ubiquitous U.S. Chamber of Commerce would stay quiet for long regarding the JPMorgan Chase fracas on Capital Hill did you? They’ve got a post up today at their blog comparing JPMorgan’s Chief Investment Office to getting hit by a bus.  While that’s exactly what it has felt like to shareholders who have lost a quarter of their investment in the stock since Bloomberg News first started reporting on the problem on April 5, the Chamber actually attempts to twist the bus analogy into an argument for giving JPMorgan a free hand to blow up depositors’ money as it sees fit. One suspects that someone connected to JPMorgan has asked the Chamber to trumpet a warning to frisky Congressmen on the House Financial Services Committee who will be probing Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, tomorrow.  After the … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens: June 18, 2012 As you review the make up for the panels in these hearings, be sure to note that not one hearing has included representatives from the public or from consumer advocacy groups.  “Examining Bank Supervision and Risk Management in Light of JPMorgan Chase’s Trading Loss” House Financial Services Committee Tuesday, June 19  9:30 a.m.; 2128 Rayburn House Office Building  WITNESS LIST Panel I Thomas J. Curry, Comptroller of the Currency Mary Schapiro, Chairman, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Gary Gensler, Chairman, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission Martin J. Gruenberg, Acting Chairman, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Scott Alvarez, General Counsel, Federal Reserve Board of Governors Panel II Jamie Dimon, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, JPMorgan Chase & Co.                                ~ “Market Structure – Ensuring Orderly, Efficient, Innovative and Competitive Markets for Issuers and Investors” House of Representatives Financial Services’ Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens: June 13, 2012 Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, told the U.S. Senate Banking Committee today that “there are no off-balance sheet vehicles…” But JPMorgan Chase’s financial filings with the SEC for 2011 tell a different story. Those documents state: “Includes off–balance sheet risk-weighted assets at December 31, 2011, of $301.1 billion, $291.0 billion and $38 million…for JPMorgan Chase, JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. and Chase Bank USA, N.A., respectively.” Dimon was not asked to testify under oath today. In an exchange with Senator Bob Menendez, Dimon said he never criticized the new regulatory requirements for increased capital for banks. Senator Menendez said he did. Dimon said that was untrue. The Senator was referring to an interview Dimon gave to the Financial Times of London which was published on September 12, 2011. The Financial Times reported as follows: Dimon: “ ‘I’m very close to thinking the United States shouldn’t be … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens: June 11, 2012 As Congress and a growing number of economic analysts rethink the mega bank model and the repeal of the depression era Glass-Steagall Act that walled off commercial banks holding insured deposits from high risk investment banks and brokerage firms, Moody’s is expected to raise more alarm bells within the next two weeks.  It is anticipated based on previous statements from Moody’s that up to 17 global banks may see a ratings downgrade.  Among the group, five of the largest U.S. banks could be negatively impacted, including, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America Corp., Citigroup, Goldman Sachs Group and Morgan Stanley.  Morgan Stanley may see a multi-level downgrade; its corporate bonds are trading as if the downgrade has already occurred.  This is not reassuring to the millions of brokerage clients in the firm’s Morgan Stanley Smith Barney unit. In 2009, Morgan Stanley purchased 51 percent of the … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens: June 10, 2012  According to this up-to-the-minute chart showing a Google Search Index comparing the search engine rankings for the words “Kim Kardashian,” and “Volcker Rule,” and “Euro Crisis,” a good chunk of the U.S. is not prepared for the next phase of the financial crisis but is well versed on the romantic tribulations of Ms. Kardashian.  Back in March of this year, I reached out to Wall Street veteran and author, Nomi Prins, with this question: “What is the one thing that could happen in America today that would make you optimistic that the country will find its moorings in time to save itself.” Ms. Prins specifically referenced the Kardashian syndrome in the U.S. Her answer was published in an article I wrote for CounterPunch on March 19: Nomi Prins: “Any potential for a more positive outcome would have to rise from a broad population push that renders the … Continue reading →

By Pam Martens, June 6, 2012 The U.S. Senate Banking Committee spent over two hours on Wednesday proving to the American people that any shred of confidence they might still have in our financial markets is misplaced. Just as with the six recent hearings on the collapse of MF Global and its $1.6 billion of missing customer funds, five different regulators could not, or would not, reveal anything useful to the American people on how JPMorgan, the largest bank by assets in the U.S., was permitted to blow up billions in depositor funds in an outpost in London.  Thomas Curry, head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) since April 9 of this year, did confirm one important detail during the hearing: the reckless derivative trading at JPMorgan’s London office occurred in a unit of the national bank (not the broker-dealer), using insured deposits of bank customers, … Continue reading →