Why Jamie Dimon Likes Banking Regulations
Yesterday afternoon, the JPMorgan Chase CEO told the crowd at the ULI Fall Meeting at Javits that US banking regulations have spurred the financial system well ahead of Europe's and regulators should take more credit. He also shared the meaning of life (well—his, at least).
Jamie likes the regulatory requirement for US banks to store more capital for liquidity. European banks need to deleverage, he says. Regulations may have reduced US growth (history will tell), but they’re a net positive for the US banking industry. He also asserts that the US financial system, from the big banks to venture capitalists, is completely recovered, properly capitalized, and making loans. The only problem, he says, is too-tight mortgage credit for consumers.
We also snapped Jamie with his Q&A moderator, Ferguson Partners CEO and FPL Advisory Group co-CEO Bill Ferguson. Jamie says instability in China’s financial system is not a problem in the short term, considering it’s got $4 trillion in its treasury. In five to 10 years, though, it’ll need reform of the market, corruption, and state-owned companies. Japan, despite bolder and braver leadership, lacks an immigration policy and faces cultural obstacles to economic development advancements like women in the workforce.
Jamie did for JPMorgan what Mick Jagger did for The Rolling Stones, says C&W CEO Ed Forst (above), considering Jamie has tripled his bank’s market cap from $76B when he started in ’04. The greatest contribution he can make to the world, Jamie says, is to make JPMorgan a good company. That means helping clients do business (including helping real estate folks build buildings), philanthropy, and becoming a permanent member of every community in which it operates, including market-accelerating investments like funding a study of which Detroit houses to demolish and which to rehab, as well as contributing seed money for a rail connection between Uptown Detroit (Wayne State University) and Downtown. “Making JPMorgan a good company makes the world better,” he says.
