Yesterday JP Morgan became the second huge bank this week to announce a return to multibillion dollar profits, largely due to record trading profits that are probably “one-offs” related to AIG, but nevertheless use this triumphant return to the black as an opportunity to boast about its plans to pay back its TARP money and get back into the eight figure bonus business. And JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon wasn’t exactly at a loss for mirth over that last part in the morning’s conference call:
Dimon, calling money received through the Troubled Asset Relief Program “a scarlet letter” and “the TARP baby,” said on a conference call with reporters today that the New York- based bank is awaiting guidance from the U.S. Treasury Department…The bank, which bought about $34 billion in mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities in the quarter, doesn’t expect to participate as either a buyer or seller in the Treasury’s Public-Private Investment Program, known as PPIP. “We learned our lesson” about borrowing from the government, said Dimon.But if that’s so true, what’s Jennifer Zuccarrelli, a top aide to former TARP overseer Neel Kashkari, doing on loan to the JP Morgan media relations department?
Seriously, if dealing with the TARP has been such a headache, isn’t Dimon asking for a migraine here? And what kind of “talent” takes home this kind of compensation package?