13 Jul JPM: London’s Whale is Burning Down the House
Burning Down the House
My house is out of the ordinary, that’s right
Don’t want to hurt nobody
Some things sure can sweep me off my feet
Burning down the house!
– Talking Heads
As much as I love Jamie Dimon, I can’t help but hear this song as the soundtrack to the mea culpa, aw shucks, earnings call at JP Morgan this morning when he was speaking about the London Whale.
JPM: London’s Whale is Burning Down The House
I’m not sure when it became de rigueur for a bank’s treasury operation to be an earnings driver for a bank, but clearly JP Morgan’s CIO office was mandated (unofficially) and compensated to do exactly that. Was Internal Audit monitoring the risk? Was Middle Office providing the necessary third party, arms-length crosscheck to all variables used to mark their positions? But those will have to be topics for another day…
The stock is up 4% so the patient is cured.
<eye roll>
When will an adult come home and save the banking system from burning itself to the ground?
I still love ya, Jamie…
Urgh! Well, it’s Friday… I’ll crank the tunes and fiddle while Rome burns. Maybe on Monday I’ll see this with new eyes. I still love ya Jamie, but get your house in order… If not you, who?
At least that’s how I see it.