15 May 2012

Wall Street executive resigns after $2b trading blunder

1:31 pm on 15 May 2012

JPMorgan Chase says its chief investment officer is to leave after a $US2 billion trading blunder.

The Wall Street firm said Ina Drew, who oversaw the London-based division responsible for the trading mistake, will leave after more than 30 years.

Matt Zames, the bank's co-chief of global fixed income in its investment bank, will take over from her, the BBC reports.

On Sunday, JPMorgan boss Jamie Dimon said he was "dead wrong" to dismiss concerns about trading at the bank.

Following a testing week, President Barack Obama in a US TV interview took the opportunity to cite the trading loss as an example as to why he pushed laws to curb the power of big banks.

"JPMorgan is one of the best managed banks there is. Jamie Dimon, the head of it, is one of the smartest bankers we got and they still lost $2 billion and counting," Mr Obama said.

"It's going to be investigated, but this is why we passed Wall Street reform."

Ina Drew made $US50 million last year and was one of Wall Street's highest paid female executives.

More resignations at JPMorgan Chase are expected.