JPMorgan's Dimon Regrets Joking about CPC

Last week Dimon boasted JPMorgan would outlast the CPC 

There are jokes going around on social media about how the JPMorgan corporate communications department is now facing its biggest crisis management yet -- their CEO Jamie Dimon boasting that the investment bank will outlast the Chinese Communist Party.

He made the remarks on Tuesday this week at a Boston college series of CEO interviews.

"I made a joke the other day that the Communist Party is celebrating its 100th year -- so it JPMorgan. I'd make a bet that we last longer. 

Dimon visited Hong Kong quarantine free

"I can't say that in China. They are probably listening anyway," he added.

Can someone say oops to the infinitesimal degree?

Dimon said this while the Wall Street bank won regulatory approval in August to become the first full foreign owner of a securities brokerage in the country. 

The next day he quickly apologised in a statement: "I regret and should not have made that comment. I was trying to emphasise the strength and longevity of our company."

Uh huh.

And to further drive the message home, in another statement added: "It's never right to joke about or denigrate any group of people, whether it's a country, its leadership, or any part of a society and culture. Speaking in that way can take away from constructive and thoughtful dialogue in society, which is needed now more than ever."

On social media, the Twitterverse wondered how much Dimon would grovel for forgiveness from the Chinese, or that JPMorgan bankers could finally quit their jobs and set up that boutique hotel they'd always been dreaming about.

Hu says CPC far more successful than JPMorgan

As expected the Chinese were not impressed.

When asked about Dimon's comments in a news conference, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian replied: "Why the publicity stunt with some grandstanding remarks?"

Hu Xijin, chief editor of the Global Times tweeted: "You don't have to regret actually. The CPC has succeeded in its sphere far more than JPMorgan's. As a member of the CPC, I don't mind your company riding the wave of CPC's popularity."

Meanwhile Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor must have regretted approving Dimon's quarantine exemption last week when he visited the city for 32 hours via private jet. 

We wait with baited breath on what the fall out will be... 

Finality of Death

Li Junjie (left) with two police officers on the roof

Tonight everyone was talking about the young man who jumped to his death this afternoon from Chater House in Central.

The police confirmed a 33-year-old man surnamed Li jumped from the roof of the building around 2.08pm. While the company has not officially confirmed the man's identity, several employees identify him as having worked at JP Morgan, where the investment bank has its main regional headquarters.

Several policemen were seen on the roof of Chater House trying to persuade the man to step away from the edge, but Li jumped before Hong Kong emergency crews arrived. He landed on the four-lane westbound carriageway outside the building and was taken to Ruttonjee Hospital but was declared dead at 2.31pm.

According to some JP Morgan employees, Li was a junior-level investment banker who played supporting roles in several projects.

There's lots of speculation as to why this young man committed suicide: some theories say that he had just received a bad work appraisal, or that he screwed up on some trades.

More information will come out in the next few days, but one wonders why people choose to end their lives this way.

I still think about my friend Ying who also jumped to her death in Beijing last June, trying to comprehend why she didn't seek help and instead chose to burden her family and friends with grief.

Or perhaps they were living with demons we can't even begin to understand and for them the only solution they can think of is death.