JP Morgan boss Dimon said his investment bank could lose $1 billion due to Russian exposure
(Picture: AFP via Getty Images)JP Morgan boss Jamie Dimon has warned that his bank could lose $1 billion (£760 million) due to its exposure in Russia following the country’s invasion of neighbouring Ukraine.
In an annual letter to shareholders, the chairman and chief executive of the Wall Street giant said: “We are not worried about our direct exposure to Russia, though we could still lose about $1bn over time.”
JP Morgan is the largest US bank by assets, with over $4 trillion (£3 trillion) under management.
Dimon wrote: “We are actively monitoring the impact of ongoing sanctions and Russia’s response, concerned as well about their secondary and collateral effects on so many companies and countries.”
JP Morgan “offers a broad range of financial and banking service” to clients in Russia, according to its website, however the bank announced last month it would close down its franchise in the country in response to the war in Ukraine.
“Rest assured that our management teams, hundreds of us, globally, have been working around the clock to do the right thing,” Dimon said in his annual letter. “We should prepare for the worst and hope for the best.”
Dimon said that the US must be ready for the possibility of an extended war in Ukraine with “unpredictable outcomes”.
The JP Morgan boss red flagged any ongoing relationship between the US and Russian ally communist China, stating that wherever possible the US should look at its needs and restrict its imports to only include business from “completely friendly allies”.
He called on the United States to rejoin the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), one of the world’s biggest multinational trade deals. Dimon said the US economy was still “strong”, but said persistent inflation would require rising interest rates and a massive, but necessary, shift from quantitative easing to quantitative tightening.
