Jamie Dimon is reluctantly in the news this past week (thanks to a $2 billion slip-up made at the bank he helms, JP Morgan Chase) and at the center of a reinvigorated public debate over whether the government has done enough to stop risky behavior on Wall Street in its wake.
News out of Dimon’s bank that the casino atmosphere still hasn’t been curbed (since the banks all melted down and took the economy with them back in 2008) wasn’t necessarily surprising to just about anyone- but it also kind of shoots holes in Dimon’s constant whinging that banks don’t need to be regulated any more than they are and can be trusted to do the right thing after crashing and burning the economy in a massive, obviously doomed scheme everyone saw coming all along.
Jamie Dimon has, for what it is worth, been visible and vocal in taking lumps for JP Morgan Chase’s newest transgression, doing a press circuit to admit that the bank acknowledges recklessness and reassuring America on Meet the Press that gosh golly gee, a mistake like this could just make Dimon and Chase grow a conscience:
“We had audit, legal, risk, compliance, some of our best people looked into all that. We know we were sloppy. We know we were stupid. We know that there was bad judgement. We don’t know if any of that is true yet.”
Dimon continues:
“Of course, regulators should look at something like this. It’s their job. We are totally open kimono with regulators. And they will come to their own conclusion and we intend to fix it, learn from it and be a better company when it’s done.”
As we noted last month, Jamie Dimon received a pay package totaling $23 million in salary and perks in 2011.