The head of one of the nation’s largest financial institutions believes bankers are not welcome to fill powerful positions in Washington.
Jamie Dimon, head of JPMorgan Chase, said in an interview published Tuesday that it will be at least a decade before a banker can be tapped for a top spot in the nation’s capital. He argued that lingering anger toward the financial sector has made it “not politically feasible.”
{mosads}“I don’t think you could have a banker serving in a major role in Washington in the next 10 years,” he told Bloomberg Markets.
Dimon went on to argue that in the wake of the financial crisis, there has been a push from policymakers to minimize the input from people with actual financial experience.
“One could argue that there’s more political input into the regulatory side, and on the regulatory side there seem to be fewer people with financial and banking experience — there are more lawyers, academics, economists, maybe politicians now,” he said. “There’s a general view in Washington now by many politicians that if you ever were on this side, you’re conflicted for being on that side.”
Dimon has previously identified himself as a Democrat, and his critique seems to echo one of the main debates within the Democratic primary. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has repeatedly charged Hillary Clinton with being too close to the financial sector, given that her husband’s administration relied on expertise from former Wall Street bankers. In addition, he has repeatedly made a campaign attack out of the large amounts of money Clinton made delivering speeches to Wall Street banks after she left the Obama administration.
Sanders has vowed that he will not include anyone with Wall Street experience in his administration.
But Dimon argued that people with experience in finance can be a valuable asset to overseeing that sector. However, he stopped short of saying limiting that input is a bad thing.
“I’m not going to say that, because then I’ll get in trouble,” he said. “Look, in any system, you want highly ethical people who really understand issues to form policies and make tough decisions. You need all the right people in the room.”
With that in mind, Dimon said he doesn’t spent a lot of time pondering how he would do as Treasury Secretary.
“Do I think I could do a good job? Maybe. It’s possible,” he said.
This post updated at 6:04pm.