london whale
The 10 stages of Jamie Dimon's blubbering London Whale grief
April 11, 2013: 3:21 PM ETHow Wall Street's most outspoken CEO publicly dealt with one of the largest trading losses in history.
FORTUNE -- It's been just over a year since the news started to emerge that a trader in JPMorgan Chase's London office had taken a huge bet on credit derivatives. It's nearly a year since Jamie Dimon began apologizing for it.
And while Dimon has definitely lived up to his reputation as Wall Street's most outspoken CEO in the past year, he hasn't always come off as apologetic for the $6.2 billion loss.
He triumphantly said the Whale had been "harpooned" last summer. He also predicted no one would be talking about the loss, one of the largest in Wall Street history, a year later. Neither of those things has turned out to be true. Earlier this year, he told an audience at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos that while his bank had made a mistake, it also had a really profitable 2012, so, you know, "life goes on."
On Wednesday, Dimon apologized again, this time in his annual letter to shareholders. In recent years, Dimon has used the letter to rail against regulators. This year, his usual combativeness was all but gone. He even said he had let regulators down.
So while Dimon, as we said before, isn't exactly like the rest of us -- he's much, much richer -- his statements in the past year in the wake of the Whale have somewhat knocked him off his Wall Street perch. Here are some of Dimon's best lines on the trading loss set, as best we could, to the classic stages of grief:
Denial
In a April 2012 conference call with investors reacting to the initial reports of the London Whale: "It's a tempest in a teapot."
Shock
From the May 2012 conference when Dimon first admitted that the bank had indeed lost a lot of money: "[It] plays right into the hands of a whole bunch of pundits out there ... These were grievous mistakes, they were self-inflicted."
(Near) Acceptance
On Meet the Press in May 2012: "We made a terrible, egregious mistake ... There's almost no excuse for it."
Except of course:
(Stage two) Denial
In testimony in front of Congress in June 2012: "We will not make light of these losses, but they should be put into perspective ... no client, customer, or taxpayer money was impacted by this incident."
Denial (again)
At an investor conference in late May 2012: "[It was] an isolated event ... something we don't have to talk about by the end of the year."
Anger
Responding to Q&As from a group of summer interns in August 2012: "I want you to know the London Whale issue is dead. The Whale has been harpooned. Dessicated. Cremated. I am going to bury its ashes all over."
Denial (stage three)
In October 2012 speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations: "We made a stupid error. Businesses make mistakes, they learn from it and get better. Only when I come to Washington do people act like making a mistake should never happen. Only with academics and politicians is it not allowed."
Bargaining
In January, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos: "I mean, if you're a shareholder might I apologize deeply. But we did have record results, and life goes on."
Grieving
At an investor conference in January: "They are going to attack me, they are going to attack the company. I'm off my high-holy horse ... It is what it is, don't worry about it."
Acceptance
From Dimon's 2013 annual letter to shareholders, released on Wednesday: "The London Whale was the stupidest and most embarrassing situation I have ever been a part of."
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Former London Whale boss: I was misled
Former JPMorgan official Ina Drew say she didn't engage in any misconduct.
FORTUNE -- On Friday, Ina Drew, the former head of JPMorgan Chase's chief investment office and ultimate boss of the London Whale, told a Senate subcommittee that she was misled. What's more, despite the $6.2 billion loss -- one of the biggest in Wall Street history -- Drew believes she did a "reasonable and diligent" job even as the MORE
Stephen Gandel, senior editor - Mar 15, 2013 11:45 AM ET -
JPMorgan's London Whale review: Inside job
Former regulators and legal experts say the way JPMorgan investigated its multi-billion dollar trading loss was "incomprehensible," "foolish" and "unusual."
FORTUNE -- Early on in the report on JPMorgan Chase's ill-fated $6 billion derivatives trading loss, the authors make it clear how culpable they believe CEO Jamie Dimon is: Not very.
On page 8 of the report the authors write, "The Task Force's views regarding firm chief executive officer Jamie Dimon are MORE
Stephen Gandel, senior editor - Jan 18, 2013 1:07 PM ET -
JPMorgan's board is unchanged after $6 billion trading loss
Despite criticism, the "London Whale" trading loss has yet to result in a single change to JPMorgan Chase's board of directors.
FORTUNE --When the board of directors of JPMorgan Chase met on Tuesday, there was no need for introductions. Eight months after the bank disclosed one of the biggest trading losses in Wall Street's history, there's not a single new face on the board of JPMorgan (JPM). No one has left, MORE
Stephen Gandel, senior editor - Jan 15, 2013 3:30 PM ET -
How Jamie Dimon hid the $6 billion loss
A mixture of accounting moves and rosy assumptions appear to have masked JPMorgan's London Whale.
FORTUNE -- Here is perhaps the most amazing thing about JPMorgan Chase's (JPM) $5.8 billion trading loss: Take a look at the firm's overall results, and it's like the London Whale's misstep, one of the largest flubs in the history of Wall Street, never happened.
Back in mid-April, about two weeks before talk of the trading losses MORE
Stephen Gandel, senior editor - Jul 13, 2012 1:08 PM ET -
Will JPMorgan take a "big bath" on the London Whale?
JPMorgan has a lot of leeway when reporting its recent trading losses.
Fortune -- JPMorgan Chase (JPM) could be headed for the tub. Some are wondering if the bank could take a so-called big bath - an accounting term for exaggerating losses in order to benefit later - on the London Whale's trading red ink.
Jamie Dimon is testifying in front of Congress again on Tuesday, this time for the House Financial MORE
Stephen Gandel, senior editor - Jun 19, 2012 10:52 AM ET -
Why it's time to outlaw credit default swaps
JPMorgan Chase's London Whale should finally sink the notion that the market for bond insurance works.
Fortune -- In finance, there should be a three-strikes-and-you're-out rule. If there were, credit default swaps would be headed for the graveyard.
Indeed, when JPMorgan Chase (JPM) announced its $2 billion and counting trading loss a month ago, there seemed to be little explanation of what exactly credit default swaps, the financial contracts the London Whale MORE
Stephen Gandel, senior editor - Jun 18, 2012 4:59 PM ET -
Dimon hearing raises questions about bank's risk models
JPMorgan Chase's CEO says his bank's hedges are safe.
Fortune -- In banking, it appears, the model is always risk on.
In Congressional testimony on Wednesday JPMorgan Chase's CEO Jamie Dimon spent a lot of time trying to prove to members of the Senate Banking Committee that the bulk of what his bank does - London Whale aside - is prudent. He said he believes in stress testing. And that he has MORE
Stephen Gandel, senior editor - Jun 13, 2012 3:45 PM ET -
Dimon under fire: What caused JPMorgan's Whale-sized trading losses
JPMorgan diverted more of its cash into "hedges" at a time when the bank was doing less and less lending.
Fortune -- It's time for Jamie Dimon to give up the hedging excuse. No one is going to believe it for much longer.
On Wednesday, Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase (JPM), will testify in front of the Senate Banking Committee. It's Dimon's first trip to Capitol Hill - he's scheduled to return MORE
Stephen Gandel, senior editor - Jun 13, 2012 6:00 AM ET -
The hedge funds that are profiting off JPMorgan's bad trade
A number of funds run by former JPMorgan employees are cashing in, but not much.
FORTUNE -- Is Dodd-Frank, the law that is supposed to make the banks less risky, actually to blame for JPMorgan's huge trading loss?
Earlier this year, Neil Chriss, who runs hedge fund Hutchin Hill, said in a Bloomberg interview that he was looking to profit by buying up positions that the large banks might be forced to MORE
Stephen Gandel, senior editor - May 16, 2012 7:05 AM ET
