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发帖数: 7948 | 1 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2142866/JPMorgan-Chase-
Revealed: London trader known as 'Voldemort' who is suspected of blowing
bank's staggering $2billion lossFrench-born, British-based Bruno Michel
Iksil believed to be responsible
Dubbed the 'London Whale', be bragged 'he could walk on water'
Believed to be part of Chief Investment Office at heart of bank's losses
Ina Drew, boss of CIO, was paid $14million last year
Shares in British banks fall: Barclays, RBS and Lloyds all hit
By Daily Mail Reporter
PUBLISHED: 05:45 EST, 11 May 2012 | UPDATED: 10:46 EST, 11 May 2012
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A British-based trader dubbed 'Voldemort' is believed to be behind a $
2billion loss for America's largest bank.
The man, named after Harry Potter's fictional nemesis, is suspected by
financial analysts of making massive and hugely risky trades for JPMorgan
Chase when he should have been mitigating risk.
Bruno Michel Iksil, as he has been named by the Washington Post, is French-
born, based in London and worked for the Chief Investment Office which has
been at the heart of the bank's recent losses.
In his Bloomberg trading profile he reportedly compared himself to Jesus by
saying he could 'walk on water'.
Speculation: A London-based trader, dubbed Voldemort after Harry Potter's
nemesis played by actor Ralph Fiennes in the films, is thought to be behind
a $2billion loss for America's largest bank
Speculation is mounting that a British-based trader dubbed 'Voldemort' is
behind a $2billion loss for America's JPMorgan bank
He was given the ‘Voldemort’ nickname because he was seen as such a ‘
scary and powerful’ force in the City.
One trader explained: ‘It was a play on the Harry Potter theme when people
were frightened of Lord Voldemort and his powers and referred to him as ‘’
He Who Must Not Be Named.’’ ‘
In reality, according to friends and family, Mr Iksil is not a ‘larger than
life figure.’ He rents a flat in Earls Court, West London, where he stays
from Monday until Thursday.
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He then returns to Paris for a long weekend where he spends time with his
wife Karen and the couple’s four children.
Last night his sister - 41-year-old Sandrine Iksil - who lives in Leicester
and works for a software company in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, told the
Daily Mail: ‘Bruno rarely talks about his work and if you met him you would
not think he is a trader in the City.
‘He is very quiet and is a family man. He does not own a flash sports car
and his main hobby would be cooking. He enjoys being in the kitchen. He
certainly has never talked to me about his work.
News: The company's stock plunged almost 7 per cent in after-hours trading
after the loss was announced. Other bank stocks, including Citigroup and
Bank of America, suffered heavy losses as well (file picture)
‘He also insists on getting home each weekend to be with his wife and
children. He works from home on Fridays. I last saw him at Easter when he
came to visit with his wife and children.
'They are just a normal family.’ The Daily Mail has learned that Mr Iksil’
s family originally hails from Russia before his ancestors settled in France.
BRITISH BANK SHARES HIT BY LOSS
Shares in major British banks fell today in the wake of JPMorgan Chase
revealing a loss of $2billion in six weeks in trading on derivatives by its
London operation.
Barclays, which has a large investment banking arm, was the biggest loser in
London trading this morning, down 2.9 per cent at 202.7 pence in mid-
morning trading.
Royal Bank of Scotland fell 2.2 per cent, while Lloyds Banking Group was
down 1.8 per cent and HSBC dipped 1.3 per cent.
Ian Gordon, analyst at Investec Securities, said the share movement may be
based on a fear that Morgan's difficulty will lead to tougher regulations on
banking.
'Based on the limited information available, it's attributed to egregious
error within JPMorgan, so there is no reason to read across that specific
loss to any other bank,' Gordon said.
The dark haired trader is reported to have earned about $100million a year
for JP Morgan’s Chief Investment Office in recent years.
Iksil joined JP Morgan in 2005 having previously worked at the French
investment bank Natixis (KN) from 1999 to 2003. He originally graduated in
engineering from the Ecole Centrale in Paris.
The Daily Mail contacted JPMorgan to confirm his identification and is
awaiting a reply.
The firm said yesterday they had informed the UK’s Financial Services
Authority (FSA) of their situation.
Iksil, also nicknamed the 'London Whale' and the 'White Whale' because of
the size of the positions he took, was brought into the CIO unit to head its
credit desk where trades were vetted by management.
He was the subject of a Wall Street Journal report last month which revealed
his 'bets' were so large they could 'move prices in markets worth trillions
of dollars'.
Bloomberg also said his group of traders had a $200billion portfolio and
made a staggering $5billion in profits in 2010.
Neither the bank or Iksil, who has not commented on the reports, have been
accused of legal wrongdoing. But critics of their alleged speculative
trading have called for legislation to prevent government-insured banks
taking big risks on the markets with their own money.
Today's speculation came after the U.S.'s larges bank said yesterday it lost
$2billion in the past six weeks in the trading portfolio designed to hedge
against risks the company takes with its own money.
The company's stock plunged almost 7 per cent in after-hours trading after
the loss was announced. Other bank stocks, including Citigroup and Bank of
America, suffered heavy losses as well.
'The portfolio has proved to be riskier, more volatile and less effective as
an economic hedge than we thought,' CEO Jamie Dimon told reporters. 'There
were many errors, sloppiness and bad judgment.'
The trading loss is an embarrassment for a bank that came through the 2008
financial crisis in much better health than its peers. It kept clear of
risky investments that hurt many other banks.
The loss came in a portfolio of the complex financial instruments known as
derivatives, and in a division of JPMorgan designed to help control its
exposure to risk in the financial markets and invest excess money in its
corporate treasury.
Dimon said the losses were 'somewhat related' to the 'London Whale' story,
but seemed to suggest that the problem was broader.
Dimon also said the company had 'acted too defensively' and should have
looked into the division more closely.
The Wall Street Journal reported last month that JPMorgan had invested
heavily in an index of credit-default swaps, insurance-like products that
protect against default by bond issuers.
Bad news: The trading loss is an embarrassment for a bank that came through
the 2008 financial crisis in much better health than its peers. It kept
clear of risky investments that hurt many other banks (file picture)
Hedge funds were betting that the index would lose value, forcing JPMorgan
to sell investments at a loss.
VOLDEMORT'S BOSS PAID $14MThe boss of the British-based trader responsible
for JPMorgan's $2billion losses was herself paid $14million last year.
Ina Drew, 54, has been in charge of the London-based Chief Investment Office
since February 2005.
Regarded as a key lieutenant of chief executive Jamie Dimon, she was
effectively in charge of Bruno Michel Iksil.
She received a cash bonus of $4.7m, a share award of $7.1m, options worth $1
.5 million and a base salary of $750,000, according to regulatory filings by
the bank.
The losses came in part because financial markets have been far more
volatile since the end of March.
Partly because of the $2billion trading loss, JPMorgan said it expects a
loss of $800million this quarter for a segment of its business known as
corporate and private equity.
It had planned on a profit for the segment of $200million. The loss is
expected to hurt JPMorgan's overall earnings for the second quarter, which
ends June 30.
Dimon apologised for the losses, which he said occurred since the first
quarter, which ended March 31.
'We will admit it, we will learn from it, we will fix it, and we will move
on,' he said. Dimon spoke in a hastily scheduled conference call with stock
analysts. Reporters were allowed to listen.
Trying: JPMorgan wants to unload the portfolio in question in a '
responsible' manner to minimise the cost to its shareholders. Analysts said
more losses were possible depending on market conditions (file picture)
Among other bank stocks, Citigroup was down 3.3 per cent in after-hours
trading, Bank of America was down 2.9 per cent, Morgan Stanley was down 2.4
per cent, and Goldman Sachs was down 2.2 per cent.
TRADERS WHO BET THEIR BANKS... AND LOST
U.S. bank Allfirst currency trader John Rusnack pleaded guilty to $
691million fraud in 2002 - and was jailed for seven-and-a-half years.
Toshihide Iguchi, a former car dealer, lost more than $1billion at Japanese
bank Daiwa in fraudulent trading over an 11-year period from 1984 onwards.
The Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) was seized by
regulators in 1991 after auditors reported huge losses from illegal loans to
corporate insiders and trades. It collapsed with $16billion debts and 250,
000 savers lost money.
Japan's Sumitomo Corporation trader Yasuo Hamanaka lost his firm $2.6billion
in unrecorded copper market trades and was jailed for eight years in 1996.
British trader Nick Leeson single-handedly destroyed 233-year-old Barings
Bank in 1995 by making losses and setting up a secret account to hide them.
He was jailed for six-and-a-half years.
JPMorgan is trying to unload the portfolio in question in a 'responsible'
manner, Dimon said, to minimise the cost to its shareholders. Analysts said
more losses were possible depending on market conditions.
Dimon said the type of trading that led to the $2billion loss would not be
banned by the so-called Volcker rule, which takes effect this summer and
will ban certain types of trading by banks with their own money.
The Federal Reserve said last month that it would begin enforcing that rule
in July 2014. Some analysts were skeptical that the investments were
designed to protect against JPMorgan's own losses.
They said the bank appeared to have been betting for its own benefit, a
practice known as 'proprietary trading'.
Bank executives, including Dimon, have argued for weaker rules and broader
exemptions.
JPMorgan has been a strong critic of several provisions that would have made
this loss less likely, said Michael Greenberger, former enforcement
director of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which regulates many
types of derivatives.
'These instruments are not regularly and efficiently priced, and a company
can wake up one day, as AIG did in 2008, and find out they're in a terrific
hole. It can just blow up overnight,' said Greenberger, a professor at the
University of Maryland.
The disclosure quickly led to intensified calls for a heavier-handed
approach by regulators to monitoring banks' trading activity. |
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