JPMorgan boss Jamie Dimon angry over regulators 'assault'

Jamie Dimon, the chief of executive of JPMorgan, complained yesterday that the banking industry was “under assault” from regulators as the giant Wall Street bank reported a sharp fall in fourth-quarter profits.

The world’s largest bank by assets was hit by higher than expected legal costs and a drop in fixed-income trading revenue. JPMorgan still reported net income of $4.9bn (£3.2bn), a fall of 6.6 per cent, on revenues of just over $23.5bn.

The company set aside $990m for legal costs, almost double the figure some analysts had been expecting. It is being investigated by the US Justice Department over the alleged rigging of the foreign exchange markets.

However, the figure pales in comparison to the $11.1bn it paid in 2013 to settle its role in the sale of fraudulent mortgage assets.

Some traders might feel the pinch at bonus time. JP Morgan cut its staff compensation pool by 4.2 per cent to $10.8bn, an average of just over $207,000 for each of the 52,250 people employed by the company’s corporate and investment banking divisions.

Mr Dimon complained in a conference call with analysts and reporters: “Banks are under assault. We have five or six regulators coming at us on every issue… you have to ask how American that is.”

Mr Dimon is unlikely to get much sympathy outside Wall Street. JP Morgan, which has been involved in many of the financial industry’s high profile scandals in recent years, was a major beneficiary of US taxpayer money in the 2008 financial crisis bailouts.