September 12, 2011 10:58 AM EDT
J.P. Morgan Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon thinks that the Basel III banking regulations are "anti-American."
In an interview with Financial Times, Dimon blasted the Basel group for pushing regulations on large global banks too far, saying that the rules hurt American financial institutions in particular.
"I'm very close to thinking the U.S. shouldn't be in Basel anymore. I would not have agreed to rules that are blatantly anti-American," he said in the interview.
"Our regulators should go there and say: 'If it's not in the interests of the U.S., we're not doing it.'"
Basel III requires JPMorgan to physically hold 9.5 percent of its risk-weighted assets to assure financial security. Dimon was particularly upset by new regulations on "covered bonds," which are ubiquitous in Europe but not used much in the U.S. market.
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Covered bonds are treated as a highly liquid investment in the Basel regulations, but the group discounted government-backed mortgage-backed securities, which Dimon feels are the U.S. equivalent.
“I think any American president, secretary of Treasury, regulator or other leader would want strong, healthy global financial firms and not think that somehow we should give up that position in the world and that would be good for your country,” said Dimon. “If they think that’s good for the country then we have a different view on how the economy operates, how the world operates.”
Critics are flocking to both sides of the debate, some agreeing with Dimon and others condemning him.
"Jamie Dimon appears to be suffering from a form of delusional paranoia that makes him believe everyone is out to get his bank," wrote The Street columnist Glenn Hall.
"Some form of self-delusional dementia is causing Dimon to confuse rules targeting the largest banks in the world as rules targeting American banks."
Yet CNBC came to Dimon's aid, particularly concerning the covered bonds.
"We're so accustomed to reading the statements of banking executives with cynical eyes that it would be easy to miss the point that this time it is different. Dimon is right," wrote Senior Editor John Carney. "If anything, his criticisms of the direction of the international regulations, known as Basel III, don't go far enough."
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