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JP Morgan Chase disclosed that traders in the Chief Investment Office may have tried to avoid showing the full extent of losses by placing inaccurate prices on their positions. A trader named the "London whale," may have been asked by his boss to mark positions more aggressively. CEO Dimon said this has "shaken our company to the core."

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Chief Risk Officers join senior management ranks by joining the senior management committee at banks such as Goldman Sachs. The change is part of the effort to make operations safer and simpler and avoid the huge legal settlements banks have faced in 2012-2014.

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T. Rowe Price marksdown its tech startup investments, including Uber.

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In comments to the Financial Inquiry Commission bankers Blankfein and Dimon show a lack of comprehension of the magnitude of the global financial crisis and their role in it. Blankfein says this kind of crisis was a once in a 100 years event and one should't react. Dimon says such crises happen every 5 to 7 years and is not something to get overly concerned about. And they offer no solutions or problem solving ideas, except to resist any form of regulation that would strictlly limit damage from a future crisis.

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Questions raised about whether the bets made by trader Iksil of the CIO at JP Morgan Chase were made to hedge risk, or to simply engage in proprietary trading for the bank in the hope of making large speculative profits. Bets made earlier by Iksil made large profits, but were simply speculative trades that increased bank profits. In late 2011 Iksil made a $1 billion bet that some companies would default on their debt in a few months. When American Airlines filed for bankruptcy protection Iksil's trades made about $450 million for Chase. But the trade had little to do with hedging risk.

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Just as the drug industry is more getting more dependent on the government with the medicare drug benefit raising the retail drug purchases paid by government to 34% in 2006 from 28% in 2005, the industry is facing more governmental scrutiny, from the FDA, from Congress from the public, and during this election campaign. Rep .Rosa DeLauro, who heads the House appropriations subcommittee that has oversight over FDA funding compares the drug industry to the tobacco industry saying that it requires the same amount of scrutiny. At the same time the drug industry is aware of the changes in the public mood and the recent controversies over drug studies, such as the one on Vytorin and other controversy. It is initiating some voluntary changes, registering clinical trial results, submitting commercials to the FDA before they air, and under pressure from medical journals registering trials before they are performed. A new law will requires and its not clear whether the drug industry is dragging its feet and then making changes when there is increasing public pressure. This is the feeling of the medical journals like the Journal of the Medical Association and the New England Journal of Medicine. JAMA's editors will be keeping up this pressure as they have more articles showing how the drug industry manipulates data and the need for public skepticism of information that comes out of the drug industry. The New England Journal editors expressed the need to publish information that helps doctors get all the available information, and not just the information from the drug industry that makes the drug look better than it really is, such as the information and analysis it provided on antidepressant medications. The chairman of the energy and commerce investigations subcommittee Rep. Stupak, finds the advertising for drugs contains information that cannot be backed up and not true ethically, medically, or legally. As this reflects the public mood look for more investigations in Congress and investigative research by the journals. On the issue of importation of drugs from Canada there is bipartisan support as both Senator McCain and Senator Clinton support importation. Clinton supports legislation that allows the FDA to approve new generic versions of biotech drugs which would lower prices of biotech drugs. And with the US consumer budget facing strains in a recession there will be increasing pressure and demands for relief in the area of drug prices, especially for the elderly and uninsured and from corporate payors. ...

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Litigation expenses and settlements for JP Morgan Chase at $17.7 billion for 2008-2012 now exceed the $16.1 billion for Bank of America, according to FBR Capital Markets. JP Morgan Chase plans to spend an additional $4 billion and commit 5000 new personnel to help it clean up the bank's risk and regulatory compliance problems. Of the $4 billon $2.5 billion go into litigation reserves, and $1.5 billion for a 30% increase in risk control staffing and other related expenses. As part of the changes CEO Dimon has put the most senior executives in charge of separate parts of regulatory problems. These executives cannot be overruled by business heads. In another change still to be made at other banks the top compliance officer reports to the chief operating officer of the bank not the general counsel. This change was made at the request of regulators who now meet about 50 times per month with compliance executives. The total control staff for compliance and risk are now at 15,000 in 2013, up from 8000 in 2012. At a 2 day business retreat at Martha's Vineyard compliance and control officers were invited for briefings and came away with equal authority as business chiefs. JP Morgan has also provided 750,000 hours of training on control and regulatory issues to its staff using McKinsey, Ernst Young and other firms. CEO Dimon sees the effort as making the bank stronger than ever and this has become a top priority for him, reflecting a change in his views from the period when the London Whale crisis first emerged. It also shows a leadership trait of Dimon as a learner who puts his full weight behind an effort after gaining new insights into hidden problems....

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JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon's confidence in Ina Drew was based on her hands on abilities, especially demonstrated during the 2008 financial crisis. Current and former bankers in this account by the Times Silver-Greenberg and Schwartz, say things changed in the years that followed. In 2010 Ina Drew was ill with Lyme's disease. The conflicts between the risk taking propensities of traders at the London trading desk under Mr. Macris, and the more risk conscious New York trading desk under Ms. Duersten, had already led to shouting matches under Ina Drew. After her illness and her absence from the office for long periods this spilled out into the open. In early 2011 Ms. Duersten left Chase after 16 years. Her replacement who would be new to Chase could not restrain the risk taking propensities of Mr. Macris and the London trading desk, the way Duersten and Ina Drew had done earlier. Macris and a trader reporting to him, Mr Iksil (referred to as the "London Whale" for his massive trading positions and bets), were free to operate without any restraint in this environment. Ina Drew returned in 2011, but she was not the same hands on person after the illness. She moved to the corporate offices on the 48th floor, instead of being on the floor above the New York trading desk. In 2008 she had held daily meetings with traders required to defend their trading positions. This did not happen in 2011. Jamie Dimon learned about the London Whale in the Wall Street Journal, April 6, 2012. Dimon's efforts in pushing back against stricter regulation, stress tests, and other issues were to lead to the CEO of the 2008 crisis becoming a much more distracted person in 2011. He was taken unawares by the breakdown in the relationship between the London and New York offices of the Chief Investment Office, the changed situation of Ms. Drew, and that risk management controls at the bank were not in place. Risk management overly depended on one person and the trust of the CEO in that person, and was not institutionalized. At the same time it should be noted that Jamie Dimon became CEO of Chase after the acquisition of Bank One in 2005, and Ina Drew was hired in that year, only three years before the crisis of 2008. The merger of other banks into JP Morgan Chase created a bank with $360 billion investment portfolio- even Ina Drew had never previously handled a portfolio of this size and the complex risks brought in with the Washington Mutual portfolio....

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A behind the scenes account of what happened at JP Morgan Chase after CEO Jamie Dimon discovered the trading losses of the London Whale through the pages of the Wall Street Journal, on April 6, 2012.

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The 129 page internal report on what caused the trading losses of $6 billion at the London based investment unit of JP Morgan Chase bank. The report shows the trading was intended to offset losses of $100 million. Instead the trading assumed large proportions and supervisors ignored the risks, management showed lax oversight. This type of situation occurs in other industries. The costcutting at BP and suppliers resulting in the Gulf Oil Spill and the Toyota costcutting saved small amounts by creating large risks that threatened the companies, with bankruptcy in BP's case and loss of confidence of the customer base in Toyota's case. They also reflected years of costcutting that were showing up in smaller problems that remained unrecognized. BP refinery fires occurred for lack of adequate maintenance. Problems were already developing at JP Morgan Chase with managment changes at the London unit leading to poor oversight and complacency of top management, a culture that took undue risks even as management remained confident in its strategies....