JPMorgan CEO: U.S. regulators place banks under assault

Are banks overly regulated? Jamie Dimon, CEO of the largest bank by assets, said the overlapping efforts by U.S. regulators have placed banks “under assault.”

JPMorgan Chase & Co. has had its fair share of legal issues and CEO Jamie Dimon said the overlapping efforts by U.S. regulators have placed banks “under assault.”

“We have five or six regulators or people coming after us on every different issue,” Dimon told reporters after New York-based JPMorgan reported fourth-quarter results. “It’s a hard thing to deal with.”

JPMorgan reported net income for the fourth quarter of 2014 at $4.9 billion compared to $5.3 billion in the fourth quarter of 2013. Legal fees of $990 million, mostly related to the sales of shoddy mortgage bonds, weighed down the bank.

“In the old days," Dimon told The Huffington Post, "you dealt with one regulator when you had an issue, maybe two. Now it’s five or six. It makes it very difficult and very complicated."

"You all should ask the question about how American that is. And how fair that is," he added. "And how complex that is for companies."

Mortgage activity for JPMorgan in the fourth quarter was mixed as originations at the bank were $23 billion, down 1% from the prior year and up 8% from the prior quarter.

Mortgage banking net income was $338 million, a decrease of $255 million from the prior year, driven by higher provision for credit losses and lower net revenue, largely offset by lower noninterest expenses, according to JPMorgan.