FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                                                                    CONTACT: Erin Kilroy at 202-466-1885

DATE: May 17, 2012                                                                                                                                                      

*** PRESS ADVISORY ***

*** Briefing Call Tomorrow May 18 11:30am EST***

JP Morgan Losses: ‘Hedging’, Derivatives, and Financial Regulation

Washington, DC – Americans for Financial Reform will host a conference call for reporters and bloggers on Friday, April 18 at 11:30 AM EST. A recording of the call is available here.

Trades that Jamie Dimon called a ‘tempest in a teapot’ until he admitted to at least $2 billion in losses (and growing).  A bank unit described for regulatory purposes as ‘ hedging’ to reduce risk, but which actually produced 25% of Morgan’s profits in 2010. Trades based on synthetic speculation rather than service to the real economy. These look like obvious demonstrations – if any more were needed – that we need tough regulation to accomplish dramatic change in the financial system.

But industry sources are claiming that the losses are not big enough to matter, that risks like this are a natural part of banking, and that the Volcker rule and other reforms could not have prevented them in any case.

Please join us on a briefing call tomorrow at 11:30am EST, hosted by Americans for Financial Reform with experts on the Volcker rule, derivatives and financial regulatory reform to analyze these issues and draw the connections between JP Morgan’s trading strategies and ongoing issues in implementing financial regulatory reforms.

WHO:

Moderator: Lisa Donner — Lisa Donner is the Executive Director of Americans for Financial Reform

Michael Greenberger – Michael Greenberger is a Professor at the University of Maryland Frances King Carey School of Law, and a former Director of Trading and Markets at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)

Wally Turbeville – Wally Turbeville is a senior fellow at Demos, and a member of Americans for Financial Reform. Mr. Turbeville previously worked for twelve years as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs.

Dr. Marcus Stanley – Dr. Marcus Stanley is the Policy Director for Americans for Financial Reform.

WHEN:

Friday, May 18, 2012

11:30 AM EST

PLAYBACK:

A recording of the call is available here.

###