"We Try to do Everything by the Book..." -Jamie Dimon Says. (except talk to clients heehee)

  (My response to that statement is simple, I don't think you should "try" I think you should just follow the rules, be in compliance, and perhaps put your ego in check, perhaps pick up the phone and NOT IGNORE your CLIENTS, and perhaps revisit your CODE OF ETHICS, although I can only make suggestions, I know that things are hectic right now.  OFFER STILL STANDS, I would like to talk with you, and see perhaps then, if you can acknowledge that I exist....Whatda Say? :) I LOVE YOU Jamie Dimon SO MUCH.)

May 21, 2012, 11:33 amInvestment Banking

JPMorgan to Suspend Stock Buybacks

By NELSON D. SCHWARTZ

Keith Bedford/ReutersJamie Dimon, the bank’s chief executive, has apologized.

12:01 p.m. | Updated
Two months after announcing a $15 billion share buyback program, JPMorgan Chase reversed course on Monday, saying it was halting the repurchases after the bank’s multibillion-dollar trading loss.
Jamie Dimon, the bank’s chief executive, disclosed the move at a meeting with investors sponsored by Deutsche Bank in Manhattan. The buybacks had been set to run through the end of the first quarter of 2013.
Mr. Dimon said the bank intended to keep its dividend of 30 cents a quarter unchanged. Bank officials have repeatedly emphasized that the company has no plans to reduce it despite the trading loss. Initially estimated by the bank at $2 billion, the trading loss on credit derivatives now stands at more than $3 billion, according to traders and regulators.

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Mr. Dimon did not provide an updated estimate of the size of the losses, but he said the bank was making progress in unwinding the disastrous credit bets.
“We are going to wrestle the problem down,” he said.
The decision to halt the repurchases — a move the company said it made on its own, not at the behest of regulators — sent JPMorgan’s shares sliding again Monday, closing at their lowest level since late last year.
JPMorgan, the largest bank in the United States by assets, announced the share repurchase plan and a dividend increase in March, immediately after receiving permission from the Federal Reserve. The Fed subjected JPMorgan and 18 other large financial institutions to a third round of stress tests early this year, tests that JPMorgan passed with flying colors.
While JPMorgan’s balance sheet was “barely nicked” by the trading loss, Mr. Dimon said on Monday, the bank was suspending the repurchases temporarily as part of a “prudent” approach to capital retention. The move also grew out of a desire to stay on track in meeting higher capital requirements under the so-called Basel III regulatory accords.
After the March announcement, JPMorgan’s stock surged, eventually rising to more than $40 a share. The shares have fallen sharply since the announcement of the surprise loss, however. Its shares closed at $32.51 on Monday, down nearly 3 percent.
“It’s disappointing for shareholders,” said Glenn Schorr, an analyst with Nomura. “The bearish interpretation is that this means the losses could be larger. But I think it’s a matter of JPMorgan trying to take ownership of the mistake and get out in front of this.”
Even if the loss were to double to $4 billion, analysts said, the percentage of earnings earmarked for dividends would remain below the crucial 30 percent threshold. If losses were to rise to more than $5 billion, the analysts added, a dividend cut would become more likely.
Mr. Dimon still has fans among analysts on Wall Street, despite the sagging shares. Keith Horowitz, a widely respected analyst with Citigroup, reiterated his buy recommendation on the stock Monday.
The JPMorgan trading debacle is likely to be a focus of legislators on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, when Congress holds a public hearing with top financial regulators. The Senate Banking Committee will hear from the leaders of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission, both of which are investigating the trading losses. Mr. Dimon is expected to testify before Congress sometime this summer.
Besides being the most embarrassing misstep of Mr. Dimon’s seven-year tenure at the top of JPMorgan, the trading loss has also strengthened the hand of regulators and politicians who favor tighter rules on how the big banks operate. In his radio address on Saturday, President Obama urged tighter restrictions on banks’ trading activity.
The buyback suspension is the first policy change as a result of the trading loss. The bank has already accepted the resignation of Ina Drew, the executive who headed the chief investment office, which was responsible for the loss, and more departures are expected.
The bank’s overall health remains strong, and JPMorgan Chase is still expected to post a substantial profit for the second quarter. Even if the loss were to double to $4 billion, the company would still end up in the black for the quarter.
But the bank’s reputation for superior risk management has been severely dented, along with Mr. Dimon’s vaunted prowess at sensing danger before the rest of Wall Street. Mr. Dimon has called the failed trade “sloppy” and “stupid.”
The appearance by Mr. Dimon at the Deutsche Bank conference was his latest in a campaign of contrition. He has offered apologies everywhere, from NBC’s “Meet the Press” on May 13 to the annual shareholder meeting in Tampa, Fla., last week.
“We try to do everything by the book,” he said Monday, after being asked why the bank went public so quickly with news of the trading loss, beginning with a hastily arranged conference call Mr. Dimon had with analysts on May 10.
“You’re allowed to be wrong,” he added. “But to be that wrong, that quickly, we felt terrible.”