JPMorgan's Big Surprise: We Lost $2 Billion in 'Egregious Mistakes'

Reuters
Adam Clark Estes 10,598 Views May 10, 2012

JPMorgan Chase revealed in a late-day SEC filing on Thursday that it's lost $2 billion due to some reckless trading of synthetic credit securities. According to Deal Book's Michael J. De La Merced, the trouble stems from the firm's Chief Investment Office who manages the bank's assets and liabilities, and based on the explanation offered by CEO Jamie Dimon (pictured above with the puzzled look), it was all because of a flawed strategy. "These were egregious mistakes," Dimon said on the call. "They were self-inflicted and this is not how we want to run a business."

While Dimon did his best to convince everyone that things would balance out at the end of the year, he admitted that the losses could get worse before then. In the meantime, he said the slipup “puts egg on our face and we deserve any criticism we get." Dimon's committed to staying on the straight-and-narrow for the rest of the year, though. Confidently, he promised, "We're not going to do something stupid."

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