- [Narrator] These were the CEOs of today's five biggest
banks in the US in 2006. This is that group in 2011, in 2016, and in 2021. You'll notice one face remained the same. This man, JPMorgan Chase CEO, Jamie Dimon - He is the bank, the
bank is him in some ways - [Narrator] Over his
tenure, Dimon has become the go-to voice for banks. - We need healthy, big banks. We have the best banking
system in the world. - [Narrator] Here's how Dimon's
strategy for managing risk has made him the most powerful
player in the industry and how he's used that position to steer the entire banking world. Dimon built his reputation over a career that stretches back decades. - He has shaped how the
big banks think about what is safe and what isn't safe. You can look around and
see that his lieutenants and former executives run a
whole bunch of other banks, and they all were schooled at how to run a bank by Jamie Dimon. - He's not a reckless banker. I think he understands you need
to take risks to make money but you also need to understand the risk and manage the risk. - [Narrator] The center of
Dimon's risk management strategy is a concept he calls the
fortress balance sheet. - I always thought you should
have a fortress balance sheet in this business and maybe some of yours because bad things happen. - [Narrator] The idea is to build up a cushion of assets and capital to protect consumer's deposits if the bank gets hit by
unexpected shockwaves - And most banks will build the moat and build up their walls
and say, we're protected. But what Jamie Dimon says is, okay, but those walls might
be made of like paper mache, so on top of that wall that
all the other banks have, we're gonna add a higher wall and then we're gonna
add some terace up here, and then we're gonna add
some people walking around all the time making sure
that everything is safe all the way down. - Is it fair to say that
JPMorgan could have losses of a half a trillion dollars
or a trillion dollars? - Not unless this earth is hit by a moon. - Okay. - He doesn't care about
this quarter's results. He doesn't care about next year's results. He cares about making
sure the bank is safe. Partly he gets to say
that 'cause he still makes a ton of money on everything he does, but it's worked. - [Narrator] That strategy
helped JPMorgan Chase and Dimon emerge from the 2008 financial
crisis relatively unscathed. And even in a position
to assist the government. - We were called upon to take actions to help stabilize the system. - [Narrator] In the aftermath,
the bank put up big bids to acquire two failing
financial institutions from the government, Bear
Stearns and Washington Mutual. - So he makes these smart acquisitions that were beneficial to him and beneficial to the government. - [Narrator] At the time, Sheila Bair was the head of the FDIC. She orchestrated bids
for Washington Mutual, the largest bank to fail in US history. - We were having a hard
time getting bidders in, a lot of banks just didn't wanna touch it. So he did not withstand the fact we were running a competitive process, he still came in a bid, thank goodness. And as I suspected he would, he did win the bid by
a pretty large margin. - [Narrator] Even with debts incurred and lawsuits following
from those purchases, the moves helped Chase grow to be the largest bank
by deposits by 2011. - He's gonna look at something
like Washington Mutual and say, that's gonna
give us more deposits and more customers. And we're getting it
at a super cheap price, the government's supposed
to share the losses. This is a risk that is worth taking. - Yowamu put us into California where we really were in Florida we had very small presence. Washington State - JPMorgan grew even larger in May after it bought First Republic Bank, the second largest bank
to fail in US history. But this also raised concern that the bank was too big to fail. Meaning that if it were to collapse it would have a devastating
impact on the economy. - Are you too big to fail? - I don't know what
that word means anymore. - JPMorgan Chase does benefit from the perception of
being too big to fail. I know they don't like to hear that. They think they're very well run and they are a great bank, but I'm sorry, they get a benefit. Nobody thinks even if JPMorgan
Chase got into trouble, nobody thinks it would ever be closed. - [Narrator] But Dimon has
made missteps in the past. In 2012, the bank lost
more than $6 billion after an employee made
a series of risky bets. - This transaction that you said morphed what did it morph into? Russian roulette. - It morphed into
something I can't justify that was just too risky for our company. - He does impose accountability. In the context of risk, that could be one of your
best risk management tools is to make sure, you
know, tell your people, go out and take some
risk, make some money, understand the risk, manage the risk, stay within our risk
appetite and understand, you know, if you take stupid risk, you're gonna be accountable. - I said, don't put me on
the pedestal, just stop that. Companies make mistakes
and CEOs make mistakes. - [Narrator] While
Dimon's management style has helped the bank grow even
larger than its competitors, it's also expanded his
role in the industry. - If you're the treasury secretary and there's something broken
in the banking industry, Jamie Dimon is your first call. - [Narrator] Treasury
secretary, Janet Yellen called Dimon to kickstart First republic's initial rescue effort. - It bought the bank time. It did seem to help the crisis and really other CEOs and
other banks have been like it was Jamie. - [Narrator] And over the years, Dimon has become the go-to
voice for banks in Washington. - Members of the committee, I appreciate the opportunity
to talk about JPMorgan Chase, the role of America's largest banks as a force for good for
the country, its citizens and the global economy. - When they all go to testify pretty much every year
in front of Congress, the other CEOs are like, let's let Jamie answer the questions, we'll let him be the guy out front. And part of that's because
like he's built this reputation and he's less worried about losing his job or getting regulators mad at him. - I think it will put
smaller banks in a position that when a crisis hits, they will virtually have to stop lending because putting up those
reserves will be too much at precisely the wrong time. So I do think this becomes an issue for you all to reconsider. - [Narrator] And Dimon
is known to be outspoken in public statements too. - Bitcoin itself is a hyped up fraud. - [Dimon] It's almost an embarrassment being an American citizen
traveling around the world and listening to the stupid shit we have to deal with in this country. - You ask me, I'll tell you my opinion, that's not a JPMorgan opinion
stuff like that but... - He is the same person
privately and publicly. Like he'll curse, he'll
get excited about things, he'll dismiss other
things, like he is Jamie - [Narrator] A spokesperson
for JPMorgan Chase and Jamie Dimon declined
to comment for this video. After nearly two decades
atop JPMorgan Chase, there have been questions
about who could fill his shoes when he decides to move on. - He truly has no hobbies
from what I can tell. Even his friends are like
he doesn't do anything other than run the bank. - [Narrator] But Dimon doesn't
plan on going anywhere soon. - [Dimon] I'm not gonna play golf. I love my country, I love my
company, I love my family. I'm gonna do something,
I can't do this forever, I know that. But my intensity is the same. - A normal person might say
it's time to hang up the shoes but Jamie Dimon is not
necessarily a normal person.
