- [Narrator] These were the CEOs
of today's five biggest banks in the US in 2006.
This is that group in 2011,
in 2016, and in 2021.
You'll notice one face remained the same.
This man, JPMorgan Chase CEO, Jamie Dimon
- He is the bank, the bank is him in some ways
- [Narrator] Over his tenure, Dimon has become
the go-to voice for banks.
- We need healthy, big banks.
We have the best banking system in the world.
- [Narrator] Here's how Dimon's strategy for managing risk
has made him the most powerful player in the industry
and how he's used that position
to steer the entire banking world.
Dimon built his reputation
over a career that stretches back decades.
- He has shaped how the big banks think about
what is safe and what isn't safe.
You can look around and see that his lieutenants
and former executives run a whole bunch of other banks,
and they all were schooled
at how to run a bank by Jamie Dimon.
- He's not a reckless banker.
I think he understands you need to take risks to make money
but you also need to understand the risk
and manage the risk.
- [Narrator] The center of Dimon's risk management strategy
is a concept he calls the fortress balance sheet.
- I always thought you should have a fortress balance sheet
in this business and maybe some of yours
because bad things happen.
- [Narrator] The idea is to build up
a cushion of assets and capital
to protect consumer's deposits
if the bank gets hit by unexpected shockwaves
- And most banks will build the moat
and build up their walls and say, we're protected.
But what Jamie Dimon says is,
okay, but those walls might be made of like paper mache,
so on top of that wall that all the other banks have,
we're gonna add a higher wall
and then we're gonna add some terace up here,
and then we're gonna add some people walking around
all the time making sure that everything is safe
all the way down.
- Is it fair to say that JPMorgan could have losses
of a half a trillion dollars or a trillion dollars?
- Not unless this earth is hit by a moon.
- Okay.
- He doesn't care about this quarter's results.
He doesn't care about next year's results.
He cares about making sure the bank is safe.
Partly he gets to say that 'cause he still makes
a ton of money on everything he does,
but it's worked.
- [Narrator] That strategy helped JPMorgan Chase and Dimon
emerge from the 2008 financial crisis relatively unscathed.
And even in a position to assist the government.
- We were called upon to take actions
to help stabilize the system.
- [Narrator] In the aftermath, the bank put up big bids
to acquire two failing financial institutions
from the government, Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual.
- So he makes these smart acquisitions
that were beneficial to him
and beneficial to the government.
- [Narrator] At the time,
Sheila Bair was the head of the FDIC.
She orchestrated bids for Washington Mutual,
the largest bank to fail in US history.
- We were having a hard time getting bidders in,
a lot of banks just didn't wanna touch it.
So he did not withstand the fact
we were running a competitive process,
he still came in a bid, thank goodness.
And as I suspected he would,
he did win the bid by a pretty large margin.
- [Narrator] Even with debts incurred
and lawsuits following from those purchases,
the moves helped Chase grow
to be the largest bank by deposits by 2011.
- He's gonna look at something like Washington Mutual
and say, that's gonna give us more deposits
and more customers.
And we're getting it at a super cheap price,
the government's supposed to share the losses.
This is a risk that is worth taking.
- Yowamu put us into California
where we really were in Florida
we had very small presence.
Washington State
- JPMorgan grew even larger in May
after it bought First Republic Bank,
the second largest bank to fail in US history.
But this also raised concern
that the bank was too big to fail.
Meaning that if it were to collapse
it would have a devastating impact on the economy.
- Are you too big to fail?
- I don't know what that word means anymore.
- JPMorgan Chase does benefit
from the perception of being too big to fail.
I know they don't like to hear that.
They think they're very well run
and they are a great bank, but I'm sorry,
they get a benefit.
Nobody thinks even if JPMorgan Chase got into trouble,
nobody thinks it would ever be closed.
- [Narrator] But Dimon has made missteps in the past.
In 2012, the bank lost more than $6 billion
after an employee made a series of risky bets.
- This transaction that you said morphed
what did it morph into?
Russian roulette.
- It morphed into something I can't justify
that was just too risky for our company.
- He does impose accountability.
In the context of risk,
that could be one of your best risk management tools
is to make sure, you know, tell your people,
go out and take some risk, make some money,
understand the risk, manage the risk,
stay within our risk appetite and understand,
you know, if you take stupid risk,
you're gonna be accountable.
- I said, don't put me on the pedestal, just stop that.
Companies make mistakes and CEOs make mistakes.
- [Narrator] While Dimon's management style
has helped the bank grow even larger than its competitors,
it's also expanded his role in the industry.
- If you're the treasury secretary
and there's something broken in the banking industry,
Jamie Dimon is your first call.
- [Narrator] Treasury secretary, Janet Yellen
called Dimon to kickstart First republic's
initial rescue effort.
- It bought the bank time.
It did seem to help the crisis
and really other CEOs and other banks have been like
it was Jamie.
- [Narrator] And over the years,
Dimon has become the go-to voice for banks in Washington.
- Members of the committee,
I appreciate the opportunity to talk about JPMorgan Chase,
the role of America's largest banks
as a force for good for the country, its citizens
and the global economy.
- When they all go to testify
pretty much every year in front of Congress,
the other CEOs are like,
let's let Jamie answer the questions,
we'll let him be the guy out front.
And part of that's because like he's built this reputation
and he's less worried about losing his job
or getting regulators mad at him.
- I think it will put smaller banks in a position
that when a crisis hits,
they will virtually have to stop lending
because putting up those reserves will be too much
at precisely the wrong time.
So I do think this becomes an issue
for you all to reconsider.
- [Narrator] And Dimon is known to be outspoken
in public statements too.
- Bitcoin itself is a hyped up fraud.
- [Dimon] It's almost an embarrassment
being an American citizen traveling around the world
and listening to the stupid shit
we have to deal with in this country.
- You ask me, I'll tell you my opinion,
that's not a JPMorgan opinion stuff like that but...
- He is the same person privately and publicly.
Like he'll curse, he'll get excited about things,
he'll dismiss other things, like he is Jamie
- [Narrator] A spokesperson for JPMorgan Chase
and Jamie Dimon declined to comment for this video.
After nearly two decades atop JPMorgan Chase,
there have been questions about who could fill his shoes
when he decides to move on.
- He truly has no hobbies from what I can tell.
Even his friends are like he doesn't do anything
other than run the bank.
- [Narrator] But Dimon doesn't plan on going anywhere soon.
- [Dimon] I'm not gonna play golf.
I love my country, I love my company, I love my family.
I'm gonna do something, I can't do this forever,
I know that.
But my intensity is the same.
- A normal person might say it's time to hang up the shoes
but Jamie Dimon is not necessarily a normal person.