JPMorgan Beginning to Divest Non Core Assets [REPORT]

FOX Business Network (FBN) Senior Correspondent Charlie Gasparino reports that JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) “has launched a firm-wide effort to sell off assets.” Gasparino says that CEO Jamie Dimon has “given a directive to sell what he views as ‘non-core’ assets and what the firm views as ‘hobbies’ or businesses that aren’t big money makers.”

 

Excerpts from the report are below.

 

On downsizing efforts at JPMorgan Chase:

“JPMorgan Chase, the nation’s largest bank, has launched a firm-wide effort to sell off assets as regulatory probes into its operations continue to mount, the FOX Business Network had learned. People inside the bank say that JPMorgan chief executive Jamie Dimon has given a directive to sell what he views as ‘non-core’ assets and what the firm views as ‘hobbies’ or businesses that aren’t big money makers. Just today, JPMorgan announced it is leaving the private student loan business, and last month, the firm announced it will no longer trade in ‘physical commodities,’ or warehousing raw materials. More sales are in the works, people at the bank say. A spokesman declined to comment.”

 

On the timing of the downsizing efforts:

“The effort comes as Dimon has told associates that he’s ‘spending more time on regulatory issues than ever before’ and that he needs to shrink the size of the bank to focus on major lines of business. People inside JPMorgan say there are no efforts – at least for the moment—to fundamentally change the size of bank. In fact, bank executives are looking to grow major business units. But the moves by Dimon are recognition that the regulatory probes are making it difficult to run a massive institution.”