That bank's so-called "war room" will probably start
daily meetings on May 21, then ramp up to three times a day if
the standoff over the debt limit drags on, he said.
"We've got to be very careful about getting close" to a default, which could cause a financial panic, he added.
"It's very unfortunate, it's time-consuming, hopefully it won't happen, but it affects contracts, collateral, clearing houses, clients."
Turning to the banking crisis, Dimon said regional banks are "quite strong" after reporting good earnings. Still, the industry and regulators should "just be prepared for problems."
He expects more regulation on the banks, but stressed
the need to proceed carefully. Dimon hopes regulators, including
the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), will look
into short selling on bank stocks and potential collusion via
social media posts.
Despite those concerns, Dimon blamed the recent banking crisis on CEOs and boards of failed lenders.
JPMorgan has hedged First Republic Bank's interest rate exposure after
buying the company
when it collapsed into receivership earlier this month, he
added. While he expects blowback from the acquisition, Dimon
said the U.S. needs big banks to accomplish complex tasks such
as banking multinational corporations.
(Reporting by Tatiana Bautzer, editing by Lananh Nguyen and
Chizu Nomiyama)
