News

JPMorgan CEO unsure Warren ‘understands’ global banking

by Mark Hensch - 06/10/15 7:27 PM ET

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said Wednesday he was uncertain whether Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) comprehends global banking.

“I don’t know if she fully understands the global banking system,” Dimon said at an event in Chicago, according to Bloomberg News.

Dimon, who manages the largest U.S. bank by assets, also reportedly said he shares some of Warren’s concerns over financial risk.

{mosads}Dimon added he would meet the Massachusetts lawmaker whenever she wanted, Bloomberg said.

Warren, a Senate Banking Committee member, has long struck a combative tone with America’s big banks. In particular, she has criticized the federal government for not breaking up the largest firms, such as Citigroup Inc., after the 2008 financial crisis.

Warren’s harsh rhetoric against Wall Street has made her popular among liberal voters.

Dimon on Wednesday recalled first meeting Warren after she helped create the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in 2011.

“By the way, I have your credit card and I love it,” he recalled Warren saying during their encounter.

Warren has been less flattering of the banking system as a whole. She fundraised late last March off reports that Wall Street firms might freeze campaign donations to Senate Democrats because of her criticism.

Officials from Citigroup, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America reportedly met in Washington earlier that month and discussed the unusual move, angering Warren in the process.

“That kind of swagger is a warning shot,” Warren said in a fundraising email March 27.

“They want a showy way to tell Democrats across the country to be scared of speaking out, to be timid about standing up, and to stay away from fighting for what’s right,” she said.

“They can threaten or bully or say whatever they want, but we aren’t going to change our game plan.”

Tags Elizabeth Warren Jamie Dimon