JPMorgan chief slams feds after 23% profit drop

Mark Decambre

Don’t make Jamie Dimon angry.

The outspoken chief of JPMorgan Chase was fired up yesterday after his bellwether bank reported a 23 percent drop in fourth-quarter profit — disappointing Wall Street.

Dimon slammed governments and regulators around the globe for a patchwork of conflicting rules that he says are hampering banks and the broader economic recovery.

“Basically, no one is in charge of the global financial system. If you look at the inconsistencies and the counter-cyclical things we’re doing, it’s crazy,” Dimon said during a conference call yesterday to discuss the bank’s performance.

“It’s not the way to get a recovery going.”

Dimon’s rant followed fourth-quarter results that showed profit slid to $3.73 billion, or 90 cents a share, compared to a year ago.

Revenue dropped 17 percent to $22.2 billion, missing analysts’ expectations.

Whipsawed by choppy markets and Europe’s debt crisis, investment banking revenues were off 30 percent.

Market players scrutinize JPMorgan because it typically kicks off the parade of financial firms to report results.

The disappointment sent shares down by more than 4 percent yesterday. They recovered somewhat to close at $35.92, down 2.5 percent.

Shareholders have gotten hurt by banks, whose stocks no longer offer the returns they once did now that interest rates are at historic lows.

Last year, Dimon’s firm rang up a meager 14.4 percent return on equity — a measure of the bank’s ability to deliver returns on the capital it uses — compared to 23 percent in 2006, according to FBR Capital Markets.

“We were looking for more of a fundamental boost from [Dimon] but we got mostly a rant,” said Paul Miller, bank analyst at FBR.

Dimon has been one of the most vocal opponents of regulations he believes are hamstringing big banks.

He got downright testy yesterday on a media call when asked if the bank would hold more mortgages on its books, rather than selling them off to government-backed mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

“We are getting killed in mortgages, if you haven’t noticed,” Dimon shot back.

Dimon sounded off on everything from capital requirements to the new cap on debit-card fees.

“The capital [requirement] rules are clearer, but they’re just bad,” Dimon said.

The conference call was run by Dimon and CFO Doug Braunstein, who at times had to joust with his miffed boss to get in a word.

He also noted that the bank is losing $600 million in annual profits due to the so-called Durbin Amendment, which caps the fees that banks can charge merchants on debit-card transactions, referring to the rule as a “gross miscarriage of justice.”

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/jamie_fightin_words_Bh6q8NT83mOX1MidVzGPvI#ixzz1jVVomNcd

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