Despite $4.9B in Profits, J.P. Morgan Still Cries Victim

CEO Jamie Dimon announced $4.9 billion in profits for JPMorgan Chase for the fourth quarter of 2014, but still has complains about the political debates on banking in the US.

Dimon’s chief complaint is the increasing burden of government regulation: "In the old days, you dealt with one regulator when you had an issue, maybe two. Now it’s five or six. It makes it very difficult and very complicated.”

In the same quarter, JPMorgan was forced to pay out $1.1B to settle charges concerning currency manipulation. Over the past 24 months, JPMorgan has paid out $14B in settlements over a numerous allegations including the London Whale trading losses, manipulating the LIBOR rate, and for selling bad securities that contributed to the recent financial crisis.

Dimon is continuing to lobby for congress to loosen derivatives rules put in place by Dodd-Frank financial. The Fed gave banks another year grace period for the Volcker rule, which prohibits proprietary trading, in late December. However, despite lax regulatory rules and high profits, Dimon still claims that banks are the victims, even after admitting responsibility for the allegations by U.S, and foreign regulators on numerous accounts.

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