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KEY WORDS
” I love my country and maybe one day I’ll serve my country in one capacity or another, but I love what I do.” — JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon speaking to Bloomberg TV
That was the response of JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s long-running CEO Jamie Dimon, when asked by Bloomberg if he would ever consider running for public office or accept a cabinet position, as the U.S. 2024 presidential race looms.
“You know, obviously, it’s crossed my mind because people mention things to you and stuff like that,” Dimon said, reiterating that for now he’s happy where he is, while at the bank’s annual Global China Summit in Shanghai on Wednesday. “I think JPMorgan does a great job of helping Americans and countries around the world, and this is my job.”
The head of Wall Street’s biggest bank recently brushed aside talk of retirement, while at least one peer has announced his own exit — Morgan Stanley’s chief executive James Gorman said he would step down within the next year.
With regards to pressing financial market topics, Dimon said that President Joe Biden and lawmakers have done a “great” bipartisan job in getting a debt-ceiling deal together, and that he thinks “It’s going to happen.”
“If I thought if it wasn’t going to happen I wouldn’t be here right now,” he said in the interview. “So obviously it’s gotta get through a couple of votes in Congress and our people are pretty comfortable it will happen.”
A House of Representative’s vote on the U.S. debt ceiling deal is expected later on Wednesday.
Read: Debt-ceiling deal: Here’s what’s next as it passes key hurdle in Congress
He said the bank has for years made clear that a default won’t be good for the financial system or the U.S. economy, which the rest of the world relies on. “I wish one day we’d get rid of the whole debt-ceiling thing,” he said.
Dimon said that investors do need to be prepared for perhaps a less smooth ride as the Federal Reserve may not be done with interest rate increases just yet. While the Fed is “right to pause at this point” after 500 basis points worth of hikes, he said it’s “possible they’re going to raise a little bit more.”
Opinion: Pausing rate hikes would saddle Americans with much higher inflation than the Fed’s 2% target
“Inflation is kind of stickier and I think people are coming around to that, which means rates may have to go up a little more, people should be a little prepared for that,” he said. “The other thing I think I’d be a little bit prepared for is the volatility that might very well be created by quantitative tightening.
“We’ve never really had quantitative easing, which we’ve had now for the better part of 15 years, and now you’re going to see quantitative tightening and I think the effects may be a little harsher than people expect, but hopefully we’ll get through all that and be OK,” he said.
Dimon also touched on the recent banking crisis, saying the banking system is in pretty good shape, with recent results showing “very good numbers” from regional banks, adding that JPMorgan totally supports the sector. The bank recently swallowed up First Republic Bank after the California-based lender collapsed.
But he added that the banking sector needs to be braced for higher rates. “I think we’re over this part of it [crisis] for the most part, but rising rates, if they get high enough, it can rear its ugly head again,” he said.
Separately, Dimon responded to a question at the three-day summit about U.S.-China decoupling, urging both sides to have “real engagement” over security matters. “You’re not going to fix these things if you are just sitting across the Pacific yelling at each other,” he said, according to Reuters.
“I liked the fact that Janet Yellen, Secretary of Treasury, President Biden, the National Security Adviser, and Secretary of State have been talking about de-risking,” Dimon said in his first visit to the country since 2019.
