Chase CEO Admits That His Executives “Acted Like Children” Following Huge Loss

Remember last year when JPMorgan Chase lost billions of dollars in a matter of weeks? One might think that well-heeled, experienced executives at one of the country’s largest banks would have buckled down and faced the problem with a steel-like resolve. Apparently not.

“Instead of helping, they were running around with their head chopped off, ‘what does this mean for me personally, how’s my reputation?’” Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said a conference in San Francisco this week.

According to Dimon, while there was a solid group of employees working every day to clean up the mess that wiped out upwards of $51 billion of the bank’s market value at its worst, there were those who “acted like children.”

In the end, he says it taught him who was worth keeping and who wasn’t.

“You learn the good and the bad about people and that’s invaluable to find out who those people are,” explained Dimon, who said his current team is the “best management team I’ve ever had in my entire life.”

Among those who are no longer with the bank are its former Chief Investment Officer Ina Drew, who “retired” four days after the public learned about $2 billion in losses by U.K.-based trader Bruno “the London Whale” Iskill. He was also shown the door, as was his supervisor.

Yesterday, Jes Staley, who had been CEO of Chase’s investment bank before being stripped of his duties in July, finally decided to leave the company to join a $12 billion hedge fund that also happened to make a profit in the wake of Chase’s mammoth loss.

Meanwhile, the trades involved in the scandal are currently under investigation by multiple federal and international authorities.

Dimon Says JPMorgan Executives ‘Acted Like Children’ on Loss [Bloomberg]

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