JPMorgan Chase London Whale G: Hedging versus Proprietary Trading

Abstract

In December 2013, the primary United States financial regulatory agencies jointly adopted final rules to implement Section 619 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which is often referred to as the “Volcker Rule”. Section 619 prohibits banks from engaging in activities considered to be particularly risky, including proprietary trading and owning hedge funds or private equity funds. Banking regulators designed the final rule against proprietary trading in part to prevent losses like the $6 billion London Whale loss that took place in 2012 at JPMorgan Chase. Given the controversial nature of the Volcker Rule, it is not surprising that the regulatory agencies received 18,000 comment letters, including a 67-page letter from JPMorgan Chase.

Keywords: Systemic Risk, Financial Crises, Financial Regulation

JEL Classification: G01, G28