Tag Archives: revolving door

Jamie Dimon’s Makeover: From Whiner to Would-Be Statesman

Remember the Jamie Dimon who couldn’t complain enough about how Wall Street was “under assault” by regulators? Well, these days, he’s saying stuff like this:

I completely understand that society has a perfectly legitimate right to put in structures and regulations and rules that make it fairer, better, cleaner.

You read that right. Perfectly legitimate.

The new, reasonable CEO of JP Morgan Chase talked to Bloomberg Markets magazine on March 1 about the financial system, safety, and the future of his bank.

Before you get too choked up about his noble intentions — he stressed that customers always come first — do remember that we’re talking about a company that just admitted wrongdoing in a case where the Securities and Exchange Commission said it had failed to tell clients that it was favoring expensive, firm-managed mutual funds over cheaper alternatives.

You can read my column for TheStreet here.

Getting a little vertigo from the regulatory revolving door?

There’s been a lot of attention to the government-to-private practice “revolving door” since President Barack Obama nominated white-collar defense lawyer Mary Jo White to be chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Investor advocates say we should be worried when lawyers shuffle back and forth between jobs as regulators and lucrative spots defending banks and brokerage firms. But the lawyers who move in and out of government jobs say they can handle the conflicts just fine.

The New York City Bar Association had a panel to discuss “The Financial Crisis and the Regulatory Revolving Door” on Feb. 12 and moderator Scott Cohn of CNBC posed the question “Which is it?” Is it spinning out of control or is it non-existent?”

I was one of the six panelists, and cited a few gems from a just-released report by The Project on Government Oversight (POGO) that illustrated the close connection between the SEC and its alumni who’d moved on to represent the institutions the SEC regulates.

In an item about the panel on Feb. 19, POGO said “White’s nomination highlights the challenge that the SEC and many agencies face when senior officials have tangled ties to the industry they’re supposed to be regulating.” You can read the POGO post here.

I wrote about Mary Jo White’s conflicts in a recent column for Bloomberg View.

Your thoughts on the debate? Let me know at @antillaview or susan.antilla15@gmail.com.