Downfall of SVB, Credit Suisse undermined confidence: JP Morgan CEO

London, April 5

The financial turmoil that led to the downfall of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) in the US and Credit Suisse in Europe is not yet over and its effects will be felt for years, warns JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon.

In an annual letter to JP Morgan's shareholders, Dimon said last month's failure of SVB and the Swiss government-brokered takeover of Credit Suisse by its rival UBS had undermined confidence in the banking system, the Guardian reported.

"As I write this letter, the current crisis is not yet over, and even when it is behind us, there will be repercussions from it for years to come," he said.

Although suggesting that there were marked differences with the 2008 financial crisis, Dimon, who has been the chair and chief executive of JP Morgan since 2006, suggested that the risks to the market had been "hiding in plain sight", in a swipe at regulators.

These risks included exposure to interest rates being raised sharply around the world to tackle soaring inflation.

Dimon criticised the US Federal Reserve for failing to incorporate higher borrowing costs into its annual stress tests.

The turmoil in the banking sector had led investors to price in a greater risk of a US recession, he said, warning that banks were now more likely to show caution when approving new lending for businesses and households, with consequences for an economy already struggling with rate increases, the Guardian reported.

"It is not clear when this current crisis will end," Dimon said. "It has provoked lots of jitters in the market and will clearly cause some tightening of financial conditions as banks and other lenders become more conservative."

Axel Lehmann, the Credit Suisse chair, told investors at the 167-year-old bank's last-ever annual shareholder meeting in Zurich on Tuesday that he was "truly sorry" the bank had failed to stem the crisis.

"I apologise that we were no longer able to stem the loss of trust that had accumulated over the years and for disappointing you," he said.

--IANS