A feisty Jamie Dimon said that he’s not planning on resigning in the wake of a raft of fines that has plagued JP Morgan over the past year. Asked if he would consider resigning on a conference call this morning to discuss the bank’s fourth-quarter results with reporters, the chairman and CEO fired off: ”No, no and no.” He qualified his comments in the same breath, “And it’s all up to the board.”
JP Morgan has faced a litany of legal fines related to its business practices—resulting, last quarter, in its first-ever loss under Dimon’s tenure. Most recently, the firm was fined $2.6 billion for charges that it had turned a blind eye to signs of fraud in the massive Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme. That fine, the firm reported today, drove down quarterly profits for the latest quarter by 7.3%. Overall, the sprawling firm has been hit with $22 billion in fines and penalties in the past year.
Sources have also told Quartz that Dimon has no intention of stepping down. So far both of directors of the firm and investors have expressed support of the 57-year old exec, who took the helm of the bank in 2005, the sources say.
That said, JP Morgan has granted more power to its presiding director, Lee Raymond, who was given the title of lead independent director (paywall) about four months ago, as the bank’s legal problems were mounting. That was a move to mollify shareholders who had sought to strip Dimon of his dual role as board chairman and CEO in the wake of the embarrassing $6 billion “London Whale” trading loss. But since riding out that storm, Dimon has not been seriously challenged again.