NEW YORK (Reuters) – JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said on Wednesday bank regulators risk making mortgages and small-business loans less affordable with the capital raises proposed by the Federal Reserve and the FDIC.
In an interview with CNBC, Dimon said regulators are drafting rules “without any forethought of the consequences and very little calibration,” and that may have already slowed the U.S. economic growth.
“It’s hugely disappointing,” Dimon said of the capital requirements, adding the “operational risk capital is based on a model that makes no sense.” The JPMorgan CEO said the Fed should be “cautious” about their models, which he said are not perfect.
“If they want to put all mortgages and small businesses loans out of the banking system, so be it, but they should tell that to the American public. It will have a real effect on consumers,” he said.
Dimon added it will become harder to extend a small mortgage to a consumer with a lower credit score. “It will reduce affordability and they should say so.”
The CEO of the largest U.S. bank said the stress tests “clearly didn’t work” and that he is far more worried about China and cyber threats than the stress tests. He also complained about the lack of conversation with regulators. “There are a lot of people there in their ivory towers that have never been into the real world,” he said.
Dimon said the country should get rid of the debt ceiling. “It’s used by both parties in a way that make things very difficult, we need certainty,” he added.
Fitch Ratings’ downgrade of the main U.S. credit rating “doesn’t really matter that much” as the markets make the decisions, not the rating agencies, he added.
(Reporting by Tatiana Bautzer in New York and Baranjot Kaur in Bengaluru; Editing by Chris Reese and Sandra Maler)
