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What was he thinking?
That is the question all of Wall Street is asking after Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JP Morgan Chase, was forced to apologise not once, but twice, to China for comments that he made earlier this week.
Mr Dimon was addressing a group of US business leaders at a lunch on Tuesday when he noted that the Chinese Communist Party is celebrating its hundredth year.
He said: “So is JPMorgan. I’d make you a bet we last longer.”
The world’s most influential banker added, laughing: “I can’t say that in China. They probably are listening anyway.”
It is not known whether the Chinese were listening. But they quickly became aware of Mr Dimon’s comments.
By Wednesday, Mr Dimon had this to say: “I regret and should not have made that comment. I was trying to emphasise the strength and longevity of our company.”
Later on Wednesday, he repeated the apology, stating: “I regret my recent comment because it’s never right to joke about or denigrate any group of people, whether it’s a country, its leadership, or any part of a society and culture.”
The timing of Mr Dimon’s comments are striking because JP Morgan Chase is one of a number of big Wall Street institutions seeking to obtain a foothold in the fast-growing Chinese market.
JP Morgan Chase is the largest bank in the US by assets
The bank won permission from Beijing in August to take full control of a securities business in the country in what was a first for a foreign firm.
Mr Dimon had also just returned from a whistle-stop tour to Hong Kong, where his trip raised eyebrows, not least because he was exempted from the three-week quarantine period in a hotel that most visitors must undertake.
Even Mark Tucker, the chairman of HSBC, had to undertake…
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Source : skynews
