Jamie Dimon Quotes

If you went to all those little towns in America, JPMorgan was there in good times and bad times, and, in fact, helped a lot of people through the tough times. And we know that's when they need us the most.

I also believe that most of the emerging economies have a fairly large amount of foreign exchange reserves, relative to 10 years ago.

The question is how do you do it [more consumer protection] so that it actually works that way? And that takes analysis, and sometimes collaboration between government and business, to understand how that works.

I completely agree with the concept that American citizens shouldn't expect that a failure of a bank would cost them money, or that it would hurt the economy.

You cannot prove this in real time, but when economists 20 years from now write a book on the recovery, it may well be entitled, It could have been much better.

You can design a mortgage system that is different without a Fannie and Freddie, but there are principles you have to have, to have a good system.

I was a normal human being, but I did like that. I read a lot. I also liked math and science.

If you can't use dividends, it's not a bad thing to give it back to your shareholders. They'll use it somewhere else.

Our plate is full. We have a lot to do building our company organically and that is our key focus.

Look, in any system, you want highly ethical people who really understand issues to form policies and make tough decisions. You need all the right people in the room. But there's a general view in Washington now by many politicians that if you ever were on this side, you're conflicted for being on that side.

We've accommodated the new rules and regulations. We've served our clients and had quite good returns.

Just because you have a good hand today doesn't mean it's good tomorrow. And some of the things we're doing may become very disadvantageous at some point.

I do believe that some of these regulations made the markets more volatile, and it remains to be seen how bad that can be.

India is a huge democracy. Prime Minister [Narendra] Modi has ambitions to try to fix the infrastructure, the rules, taxes, education, and to lift up the Indian people. And we're hopeful that that's going to create positive momentum.

When you walk into a store and you want to buy something, you give them cash and they sell it to you. But very often, you walk into our "store" and you want something - a credit card, maybe, or a loan - and very often the answer is "No," even if you're a large corporation.

I think the Republicans have really thoughtful financial policies, and I'm more in the middle on taxation.

I don't think you're going to have one bank. Big companies aren't going to give us all their business. So they can pick and choose - by product, by country, whatever. We have major competition across every product in every place we operate.

I want you to say to me right from the start, "We are here to serve customers. We're not here for me to make a lot of money. We're not here to bet on interest rates or credit spreads. We are here to serve our customers really well over a long period of time, and that's how you build a successful business." And so I want to see that, too, you know?

I think the way NOW characterized Smith Barney is disgraceful. I am appalled that an organization like that would not have reserved judgment (until) making their own investigation.

Prime Minister Modi [Narendra] is strong enough, and he's accomplished much.

It's great that people get together and collaborate, talk about the facts and the analysis, all in the interest of having a great financial system.

My daughter asked me when she came home from school, "What's the financial crisis?" and I said, it's something that happens every five to seven years.

If you have the choice, it's far better to say, "That person has the job, and they really don't need that much of my oversight." Maybe they don't need any of it.

I hope the story of 2011 is that America gets its mojo back. You've got to remember that America has the best universities; it's got some of the best businesses. It's got an unbelievable work ethic, rule of law. The story of 2011 will be America blossoming again.

The toughest are people mistakes, when you put the wrong person in a job. Sometimes you're too slow to move them out. Or not getting the right people involved to solve a problem, or doing something out of anger; you learn, just don't do that. But I'd have to say the Whale was one of them, and I would also have to put Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual on the list at this point.

I think immigration has been one of the vital things about the growth of America. I'm the product of grandparents who all immigrated from Greece. I hope eventually we have proper immigration.

Japan, Europe, [and] America probably [are] better than last year [2015], not China.

They'll [China] probably be a fully developed nation. The road there just is not going to be that easy. You're going from a macromanaged, top-down economy to a market-managed, micromanaged type of economy, with all the potential corruption issues, SOE [state-owned enterprise] reform, and market reform that come with it.

It's good for America when the rest of the world grows, because you can sell more to the rest of the world.

We're going to do the right thing for the company and our customers, all things considered.

The Trump administration's economic agenda is the right agenda. Corporate taxes have been driving capital and brains and companies overseas for a decade. It has caused huge damage in investment and jobs and productivity. It was a mistake. We have to fix it. Counterintuitively, that usually helps middle-class wages, and lower-class wages, and job formation.

JPMorgan Chase are among the most successful global investment banks, most successful global asset managers, and, in the United States, one of the most successful retail and commercial bankers. We do a great job for customers.

Now the Japanese companies are more focused on that. To have two independent directors - I think it's good to have outside people look at you and think of what you could be doing better. Those are voluntary, but most of the companies told me they're going to do it. And I think it's good for them to say our returns on equity, for example, should be higher. Also, I think some could be more ambitious.

All our clients know that we're there, we're steady, we do a good job, we earn a fair return for ourselves, which I think is critical.

I learn from all our major competitors, whether they're in or out of the U.S. Wells Fargo is very actively, very aggressively, and very successfully building its U.S. investment bank.

When the secretary of treasury, the head of the central bank, the head of the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.), and the head of the New York Fed say, "We want you to do this because we think it's in the best interest of the United States of America," you know, we're like the Japanese. We're a little patriotic that way. We said, "Yes, sir!"

Europe is the most complicated place, in my opinion.

I want Japan to think and say that we are better off for JPMorgan having been here through thick and thin.

Part of the reason some Japanese companies have underperformed financially was corporate governance and board structures.

The "third arrow" (of structural reform) is critically important. Japan has some of the best companies in the world, and if you look at their technology, their capability, it's extraordinary.

No one has the right to not assume that the business cycle will turn! Every five years or so, you have got to assume that something bad will happen.

We, Americans, have the best country on the planet. We have schools, universities, food, water, energy, peaceful neighbors, low corruption, you name it, deepest and widest capital markets. That doesn't mean we shouldn't identify problems. We don't have a divine right to success.

Abenomics, quantitative easing, fiscal policy - we know all the issues.

I think one could argue that there's more political input into the regulatory side, and on the regulatory side there seem to be fewer people with financial and banking experience - there are more lawyers, academics, economists, maybe politicians now.

But in general, as countries get wealthier, there's going to be more savings, which means you're going to have intermediation. So part of it is just the huge growth in wealth, and part of it was globalization - these companies, these clients getting much bigger and much more global.

I speak to lots of people around the world, and no one would tell you that 25 basis points will make a difference to them.

Men, age 25 to 55, the labor-force participation rate is down 10%. That's unbelievable. There are 35,000 dying of opioids every year. Seventy percent of kids age 17 to 24 can't get into the US military because of health or education. Obesity, diabetes, reading and writing. Is that the society we wanted? No. We should be working on these things, acknowledge the flaws we have, and come up with solutions. Not Democrat. Not Republican. Not knee-jerk.

And if you're going to be a leader, you know what I ask myself? Would I want to work for you in this job? Would I let my children work for you? Would I give you this job if I wasn't there to provide oversight? If you went to run another company, would I, as an investor, invest in that company?