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Actions Speak Louder Than Words, At Least That's What Some Folks Say
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In
a previous post, I noted the
advertising campaign that major US banks had launched to rebut no doubt unfair
characterization of them as “reckless” and “too big”.
Ads
are fine but sometimes the most compelling argument is how you live your life
or conduct your everyday business.
Turning
back to the Grey
Lady’s coverage of this story, a quote from Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan Chase
pictured above, doing his best for humanity, sets the stage.
“When
Mr. Dimon was asked in February how he would explain to an analyst’s
mother-in-law the benefit of being a large bank, he conceded, “We have a hard
time explaining those things to the public.”
Mr.
Dimon went on to say: “We make loans. We help companies. We help communities.
We are the Rock of Gibraltar in the tough times.”
In
just a few powerful words, he’s made the case for the big banks.
The central justifying theme is “helping”. Or "doing one's best for humanity" as in an interview with Fox News 13 January 2015 which you can watch here.
The central justifying theme is “helping”. Or "doing one's best for humanity" as in an interview with Fox News 13 January 2015 which you can watch here.
Of
course, banks also have a duty to make an honest profit for their shareholders.
As
Krimes v. JPMorgan Chase Bank NA, 2:15-cv-05087, U.S. District Court, Eastern
District of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia) no doubt shows there doesn’t have to be
a conflict between an "honest" profit and "doing one's best for
humanity" or "helping communities".
In
2008 JP Morgan won a no-bid contract to provide ex- convicts from all Federal
prisons in the US prepaid debit cards which they could use to withdraw money
they had earned in prison or money that had been sent to them while they were
incarcerated.
According
to Fortune
magazine,
“But
when the convicts were freed and tried to access their money, they found that
they had to pay huge fees for what seemed like ordinary services.
The
former prisoners had to pay $24.50 if they wanted to get a lost card replaced
quickly; $10 to withdraw money at a teller window; and $1.50 if they didn’t use
the account for a month, according to the Financial
Times. They even had to pay $0.45—or the equivalent of two hours of
work in prison, the FT notes—if they wanted to check their
account balances.”
AA
side comment: $0.45 doesn't sound like much until you scale the fees
to the convicts' wages per hour to get an idea of the relative cost of the
service.
Bloomberg
quoting an unnamed ex prisoner:
“I
left prison with $120,” an unidentified former inmate said in the complaint.
“Because of the fees, I was only able to use about $70 of it.”
Success in achieving goals is a function of attitude and aptitude so they tell AA.
Perhaps, encouragement to "try harder" would be in order as AA is confident in the presence of aptitude at JPMC.
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