Dimon Advocates For Change In Bank Regulation After Meeting With Lawmakers

JPMorgan Chase Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon made it clear during a visit to Washington, D.C., that he thinks the way banks are regulated needs to change. After a private meeting with Republican lawmakers and other big bank Chief Executive Officers, he told reporters that it’s time to take a step back and review all the rules that have been put in place.

Dimon stated that the whole system needed to be examined. His comments came as the Trump administration was working to scale back the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and possibly restructure other agencies that oversee major banks.

Dimon Discusses Regulatory Challenges And The Issue Of “Debanking”

The administration had recently ordered most CFPB work to stop and even blocked employees from entering their headquarters.

Republicans have long opposed the CFPB, saying it’s just another unnecessary regulator. The administration is reportedly considering merging other financial agencies. This may include folding the FDIC into the Treasury Department and combining it with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Dimon didn’t seem too worried about the CFPB specifically. He pointed out that consumer protection already exists in other agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the OCC, and the Federal Reserve. “The real question is, how do you create a system that works for everyone?” he said.

To emphasize how complicated the current system is, Dimon even handed out a chart to reporters showing all the different regulators overseeing JPMorgan Chase. It’s something executives at the bank jokingly call the “spaghetti chart” because of all the tangled lines connecting different agencies.

Another hot topic during Dimon’s visit was “debanking,” which refers to banks denying services to certain customers. He insisted that JPMorgan Chase doesn’t shut people out based on their political or religious beliefs.

However, he admitted that some banking rules—especially those aimed at stopping money laundering—are so strict they push people out of the system. Banks are scared of being sued or fined if anything goes wrong, even if they had no way of knowing in advance.

When asked if regulators were to blame for the problem, Dimon didn’t hesitate: “Pretty much, yeah.”

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The private meeting also included other top banking Chief Executive Officers, like Brian Moynihan from Bank of America, Charles Scharf from Wells Fargo, and leaders from PNC, Truist, and Capital One.

Lawmakers are considering new rules to make it clearer when banks can deny service. The crypto industry is also pushing for changes, arguing that digital asset companies have been unfairly blocked from banking services.

President Donald Trump reportedly confronted Bank of America’s Chief Executive Officer about the issue at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Trump said that he hoped the bank would start opening its doors to conservatives. He also included Jamie Dimon in his criticism, suggesting that regulators might be acting because of Biden and urged both of them to stop shutting conservatives out.