BankThink

Receiving Wide Coverage ...All About JPM: Everyone's still talking about JPMorgan Chase's $920 million settlement with U.S. and U.K. regulators over last year's $6 billion "London Whale" trading loss. The main takeaways from JPM's Terrible Thursday? For starters, the bank's "Whale" problems may not be over. The Journal reports that the SEC is continuing a civil investigation of individual employees who are connected to the matter. Bank CEO Jamie "Tempest in a Teapot" Dimon is not expected to be one of them. (Once again, regulators punish the bank, but not its top executives, this Dealbook column notes.) However, both Dimon and the bank certainly remain out of favor with regulators. "The bank is now facing scrutiny from at least seven federal agencies, several state regulators and two foreign nations," the Times reports, with an investigation into the trading debacle by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission presenting "a particularly thorny problem." Dealbook columnist Peter Hennings explains: "The issue [in the CFTC's case] is whether the bank's extensive trading manipulated the derivatives markets in violation of the Commodity Futures Act. That law gives private investors a claim for damages against traders who sought to manipulate the value of futures contracts." So, if the bank were to admit wrongdoing to the CFTC, it would potentially open itself up to investor lawsuits over the trading fiasco. These lawsuits, conversely, are not likely to result from JPM's admission of guilt to the Securities and Exchange Commission that came as part of yesterday's broad settlement. "The candor, largely limited to questions of record-keeping, was contained. JPMorgan never said it misled or deceived anybody," explains the Journal's Jacob Gershman. "Any potential securities class-action would still have to show that JPMorgan made a reckless misstatements that had real financial consequences." Also, in case you missed it, the "London Whale" settlement wasn't the only enforcement action against JPM yesterday. The bank was also fined a total of $389 million by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency over deceptive credit card practices.

Midsize players will seek to increase geographic coverage, acquire deposits with little-to-no premium and attract clients away from their competition through mergers and acquisitions.

Regulators need to get cracking on Dodd-Frank rules, and the Fed needs a chairman who understands the impact of policies on the middle class.

Sandberg's book has highlighted the need for both men and women to sponsor high potential women and encourage them to take a seat at the table.

Breaking News This Morning ...'Whale' Settlement: JPMorgan Chase has agreed to pay regulators $920 million to settle allegations related to its $6 billion 'London Whale' trading loss. Earlier estimates of the widely expected settlement pegged the penalties to total around $750 million to $800 million, but anony-mice were heralding the higher total to various news outlets late yesterday. The bank did admit wrongdoing related to poor internal controls as part of the settlement. Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Financial Times

Widespread adoption of same-day settlement will level the competitive playing field for all financial institutions and allow account holders to benefit from expedited settlement.

With proposals afoot in both chambers of Congress, and President Obama moving the issue to the forefront, we can dramatically modernize our country’s housing finance system.

I hope we can all encourage our younger coworkers, our daughters and granddaughters, to see these opportunities and be ready to ascend to upper level management positions.

BankThink kicks off a new series in conjunction with American Banker Magazine’s annual Most Powerful Women in Banking issue.

Receiving Wide Coverage ...A Glut of (Sort of) JPM News: We say sort of because some of this, you may have heard already. For instance, more regulatory scrutiny is on the way, per JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, but, don't worry, the bank is working on it. "We have been asking our senior people to eliminate products and services that are not essential to serving our customers and are not core to our business," Dimon wrote in an internal memo that many news outlets, including American Banker, got ahold of. Among this forthcoming regulatory scrutiny, the Journal reports, is a separate Commodity Futures Trading Commission probe into whether the bank or its traders manipulated trades during the infamous "London Whale" scandal. (Scan readers will recall the bank is nearing a broader settlement with almost every other regulator in the U.S. and U.K. over the $6 billion trading loss.) Anonymice also tell the Journal "the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Manhattan prosecutors ... continue to gather evidence for what could result in criminal charges," related to the trade. (So, nope, the "Whale" still isn't exactly dead.) And, while we're on the subject of criminal charges, Dealbook reports that Julien Grout, one of the two ex-JPM traders already indicted over the incident, per his lawyer, is simply a scapegoat. "The defense will depict Mr. Grout as a low-level employee who was simply following orders," Dealbook writes. "Or, as Mr. Little [his lawyer] put it, Mr. Grout was a 'junior trading assistant acting under the direct instructions of his managers.'" In non-"Whale"-related news, the Journal reports that JPM has "already refunded credit-card customers" for mis-sold add-ons expected to be part of a (you guessed it) settlement with regulators later this week. The fines associated with this settlement, made payable to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, are estimated to be around $80 million.