By Robert Lenzner, Forbes Staff Richard Nixon learned this lesson the hard way. So did Salomon Bros. and John Gutfreund in 1991. Hard to believe JPM boss Jamie Dimon did not know this lesson of history well. Let the lawsuits and the fines begin. Here is the conclusion from the Senate report; more detail later after the hearing today. “The J.P. Morgan Chase whale trades provide a startling and instructive case history of how synthetic credit derivatives have become a multi-billion source of risk within the US banking system. “They also demonstrate how inadequate derivative valuation practices enabled traders to hide substantial losses for months at a time; lax hedging practices obscured whether derivatives were being used to offset risk or take risk; risk limit breaches were routinely disregarded; risk evolution models were manipulated to downplay risk; inadequate regulations oversight was too easily dodged or stonewalled and derivative trading and financial results were misrepresented to investors, regulators, policy makers, and the taxpaying public who, when banks lose big, may be required to finance multi-billion bailouts.” These risks that JPM took were the result of that old devil hubris, that coming so soon after the 2008 meltdown, the pillorying of Goldman Sachs in public hearings about its rotten Abacus deal, and the public’s uproar over the costly bailouts to save Wall Street— will trigger a firestorm. Time for Washington to get serious and ignore the lobbyists and the campaign contributions. Morelater today after the hearings. …read more
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