Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, is pushing lawmakers to unite behind President Barack Obama and to stop behaving like a “dysfunctional family” as the administration seeks solutions to the economic crisis, reports the Financial Times.
Echoing the patriotic, warlike rhetoric of Warren Buffett, chairmanof Berkshire Hathaway, and the call for regulatory reform from BenBernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, Dimon said the U.S. couldapproach a recovery by the end of the year if all participants pulledtogether: “There are modest signs of recovery and healing.”
JPMorgan’s bonds business had performed better in recent months, Dimon said. Citigroup said on Monday it had been profitable in January and Februaryand was experiencing its best quarter in more than a year.
Dimon expressed support for the mortgage modification program introduced by Obama and told a capital markets conference organizedby the Chamber of Commerce that the government’s stress test of bankswould create confidence: “I think a lot of the banks will be fine.”
Dimon “liked” the mark-to-market accounting rule, which compels institutions to value assets at current prices and has been cited as creating volatility owing to the illiquid market and hard-to-value assets, reports FT. Dimon said, “We have taken it to a ridiculous point. I think it’s wrong to create all that volatility.”
Chris Dodd, chairman of the Senate banking committee, said at a Washington conference that Congress should resist intervening to alter the mark-to-market value rule.