JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM)’s former CIO Ina Drew will take the stand along with a number of current and former executives on Friday as the case over the so-called London Whale incident goes to before a Senate subcommittee. In addition to Drew, former CFO and current chairman Douglas Braunstein, investment bank co-head Mike Cavanagh and Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry will also testify.
The report released by JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) after an internal investigation placed most of the blame directly on Drew. She has kept mum on the topic as several investigations in the U.S. and the U.K. have ensued after the bank’s loss of billions of dollars as a result of the botched trades involving Bruno Iksil, the trader known as the London Whale because he held such large positions in the trades he made.
After the incident, Drew resigned and gave back two years of her pay. The Financial Times cites an anonymous source who said she likely won’t implicate any of her colleagues when she testifies this week. JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) Jamie Dimon is not expected to testify this week, although he has testified and been privately questioned already.
Friday’s hearing will be in front of the Senate investigations subcommittee. The committee is looking into if the trades done by the bank’s London office would have been in compliance with the proprietary trading ban, which has not yet taken effect.
In addition, the committee will look into whether a bank that’s as large as JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) is too large to manage. Government authorities on both sides of the Atlantic have been debating whether the largest banks should be broken up.