Divvying Up The Banking Markets #JPMC #Santander

Questions Raised About JPMorgan E-Mail on M.&A.

By DEALBOOK

An internal JPMorgan Chase e-mail message from 2008 describing a meeting involving Jamie Dimon, the bank’s chief executive, and Emilio Botin, Banco Santander‘s chairman, has been obtained by TheStreet.com, which says the message raises antitrust questions because it suggests that the two men possibly discussed divvying up the banking market.
Written by Jose Cerezo, an investment banker at JPMorgan, the e-mail message describes Mr. Dimon, Mr. Botin and a Santander executive board member, Juan Inciarte, talking about several possible acquisitions of interest to both banks at the time, including Washington Mutual (which was later acquired by JPMorgan), SunTrust Banks, the PNC Financial Services Group and Wachovia (which was later acquired by Wells Fargo).
“It is important to have an open dialogue with them, as Santander would not pursue any of these opportunities if JPMorgan were to do the same (can’t compete on price with JPMorgan for an acquisition in the U.S.A.),” Mr. Cerezo writes in the e-mail message. “But Santander would probably hire JPMorgan as adviser if we are not going after them.”
The e-mail message, sent on June 5, 2008, came to light recently in connection to litigation stemming from JPMorgan’s acquisition of Washington Mutual in September of that year after the biggest bank failure in American history.
Ian Ayres, an economics and law professor at Yale University, told TheStreet.com that he saw problems with the suggestion that the banks might be divvying up the market or that Santander might reward JPMorgan with an advisory fee if it chose not to pursue a target of interest to both banks.
“The email is very problematic,” Mr. Ayres said. “If I were in the Justice Department, I’d immediately open an investigation to pursue this further.”
TheStreet.com said representatives from JPMorgan, Santander and the Justice Department all declined to comment on the e-mail.
Go to Full Article from TheStreet.com »


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What does it mean when the Justice Department declines to comment on the e-mail?????