Drew blames underlings for JPM losses

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Ina Drew, the former JPMorgan chief investment officer, broke her public silence on the Wall Street bank’s $6bn “London whale” trading loss on Friday blaming it on two underlings, as she sought to distance herself from the disastrous bets on credit derivatives.

In prepared remarks before a Senate panel, Ms Drew pinned the blame squarely on analysis prepared by Achilles Macris, who supervised the investment office’s credit portfolio in London, and one of his subordinates, Javier Martin-Artajo.

“I did not, and do not, believe I bore personal responsibility for the losses,” Ms Drew said in her statement. She did not believe she had engaged in any misconduct, she added.

An internal company report had placed most of the responsibility for the failed trades on her. The trades, first made public last April, roiled credit markets before leading to dramatic losses and triggering numerous government investigations and a reshuffle of JPMorgan’s executive team.

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/24c5419e-8d7e-11e2-82d2-00144feabdc0.html

[mbperrin]

1. Always so weird how the people in line for the biggest bonuses are also

never responsible when things go bad.

I don't let my high school sophomores get away with that. It would be nice to have banks held to that same standard.

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2. Yeah, there is that, but I also like it when they start screwing each other, rather than us. nt

[mbperrin]

3. Oh, I agree. Anything bad for banksters is chuckle material for me.

Never been sorry we abandoned banking in 1978.