JPMorgan Chase blows $2 Billion in proprietary trade losses

JPMorgan Chase’s loss of $2 Billion in proprietary trading losses reported yesterday by egg-on-the-face CEO Jamie Dimon only helps to show the banks true colors – a relentless quest for profits above all else.

JPMorgan Chase, the largest bank in the United States, said Thursday that it lost $2 billion in the past six weeks in a trading portfolio designed to hedge against risks the company takes with its own money.

Read the entire story.

A reader remembers Dimon commenting on Google’s “Don’t be Evil” motto: “We have a motto too. It’s make more money.”

This loss can only mean that Chase will try to boost it’s profits by sucking more fees out of customers.

Chase annual shareholders meeting

A reader sent this in:

Tampa, FL, Chase campus is expecting large crowds of picketers on May 15, 2012, to protest onsite at the Annual Shareholders Meeting where the big money-making executives are scheduled to be present.

The PDF for this event is available at www.Shareholder.com
or simply Google this phrase “site:shareholder.com 2012 chase shareholder meeting tampa”

Employees are being encourages to stay home on May 15, 2012, in light of the heightened security for this three-building campus at 10430 Highland Manor Drive, 33610

I can’t vouch for any of the information but if past big bank (including Chase) annual shareholder meetings are any guide, protests are likely.

JPMorgan Chase has 9th worse corporate reputation in the US

Chase CEO Jamie Dimon recently complained that the New York Times hates banks.  There is some good evidence that it isn’t just the New York Times, or media in general that hates banks, but pretty much everyone on the US.  Furthermore, Chase in particular seems to have people’s ire, and a Harris Interactive poll found them to have the 9th worse corporate reputation in America.

A company’s reputation is formed not only by the products it sells, but by the decisions it makes in times of crises. For some, that’s a good thing. For others, some present on this list, not so much.

Using survey results, market research firm Harris Interactive has compiled a list of the U.S. companies with the best and worst reputations. For the 12th Annual Harris Interactive U.S. Reputation Quotient Survey roughly 30,000 Americans were asked to rate the 60 most visible companies in the United States based on six factors: financial performance, products and services, workplace environment, vision and leadership, social responsibility, and emotional appeal. Combining these factors, Harris tallied a total RQ Score. Scoring above 80, for reference, indicates a company’s reputation is “excellent.”

Overall, companies in this year’s survey ranked higher than the previous year, with 16 companies rated as “excellent” compared to only six last year. Tech companies, in general, seem to have the best reputations, while financial and oil companies have the worst. Notorious scandals like the BP Gulf Oil Spill and Goldman Sachs’s role in the subprime crisis seem to have lingered in American minds, and companies with the worst reputations scored especially poorly when rated on whether they have “high ethical standards” and could be “trusted to do the right thing.”

Car companies largely fell somewhere in the middle, but that could change in the coming years. General Motors and Chrysler, while stuck in the bottom 11 this year, did make the third and fourth highest gains on the list, respectively, of any company.

Below are the 11 companies with the worst corporate reputations:

9. JPMorgan Chase

Chase banking glitch causes double charges on accounts

Another gift from the technically savvy people at Chase (article 1, article 2).

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) acknowledged Tuesday that it accidentally charged customers in some states twice for their debit-card transactions.On Tuesday afternoon, the bank fixed the glitch that had affected transactions between Friday and Monday, a spokesman said. J.P. Morgan will refund any fees tied to the double bookings.

Purchases were booked as a temporary charge, but when the transaction was actually processed, the temporary charge remained, which meant the customer was charged twice for that same purchase, customer accounts show.

By Tuesday afternoon, J.P. Morgan, the nation’s largest bank by assets, had credited customers for the errant charges. Account balances are corrected, a spokesman said. The original, duplicate and corrected transactions are still on the online account statements until those are synchronized overnight, at which point only one transaction will be shown.

Fraud is not the issue, the spokesman said. Rather, a technical glitch related to a recently changed computer program inside the bank occurred Monday, the first business day of the month. Since debit transactions made over the weekend are also processed Monday night, those were also impacted by the double booking.

Chase couldn’t say how many of its 25 million customers and transactions were impacted. But the glitch hit customers in the tri-state metropolitan region of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

Chase told customers in Twitter messages, “We do apologize for the error. We are working to get the charges reversed as quickly as possible. We appreciate your patience.”

“Chase bank gave me a heart attack,” one Twitter post said. “I was declined for a $2 coffee this AM, checked account… HUNDREDS of $ in duplicated charges.”

On March 26, J.P. Morgan Chase said its consumer-banking website experienced technical difficulties that slowed online banking for several hours and intermittently made access to the site unavailable, including through mobile devices. It resolved the issue the same day.

Chase down again

Readers are reporting another outage this morning that has lasted several hours.  The login screen as of now appears active and I can’t test it as I am not a Chase customer.  One reader reported being redirected to this page.

With Chase, customers often fall through the cracks

Like this customer:

I am a 60 year old disabled person. On March 13, 2012, i opened a checking account online at http://www.chase.com because I can not drive. I had my daughter to deposit all of my $9,100.00+ disability check at the local branch, which chase accepted with a standard smile. Next day I wanted to pay a bill, but my account was blocked. I called chase at 1-877-691-8086 and they said I had to come to the branch. On March 14, 2012 my daughter took time off work to drive me to the branch at 1380 W Capitol Ave, West Sacramento, CA 95691, 916-373-9357. At the branch I had my passport, CA id, social security card etc. The branch manager said that all of those documents are not enough, and that I have to go to the social security office and get a letter from them that the social security number on my ss card is really my number; and then MAYBE CHASE will be able to unlock the account. The manager said that CHASE CAN NOT RETURN me my checks either. So, CHASE STOLE MY MONEY, I HAVE NO MONEY TO SPEND OR PAY BILLS WITH! I COULD NOT SLEEP ALL NIGHT LONG! I do not have anyone to drive me now to the social security office and wait for me half a day and then drive to CHASE to just get MY money back from CHASE. Opening a simple checking account should not be such a disaster!

Chase iPhone apps crazy deposit limits

A reader writes:

Chase Bank has been advertising it’s iPhone App all over TV.  What a wonderful thing technology is.  However, they have restrictions on the app that are not disclosed to customers… or even written down anywhere. Their policy for making deposits using the application (“QuickDeposit” sm) is you can deposit $2000 per day per account and up to $5000 per month per account.” It seems silly to limit deposits but that’s not the issue. The issue is they set these limits “per MONTH.” A person of reasonable intelligence might believe this might mean March 1-31, for example.  But no. Chase doesn’t mean this. You might think this means your statement cycle date, i.e. 2/14 – 3/14. But no they don’t mean this either. Seems Chase has made up some “arbitrary” 30-day period based on when you might have last used their application. This is not disclosed ANYWHERE. It is not on their website, not in an info packet in any branch and not even in the service agreement or terms of use for the application.
They just made it up.  It is extremely misleading for consumers and I would think that a financial institution regulated by the federal government would be a lot more keen on disclosures to customers. Who would remember the “last date” they used the application and whether or not any previous deposit amounts might have been at or near the arbitrary $5000 deposit limit?

Is chase doing this to outsmart potential crook without considering its ability to frustrate customers?

A dog’s view of Chase