Jake's ViewJP Morgan just doing as Romans do
Examination of investment firm for possible bribery just another example of US regulators' unctuous morality and smells of hypocrisy
US authorities are examining whether JP Morgan violated anti-bribery laws by hiring the children and other relatives of well-connected politicians and clients in China in exchange for having business steered to the firm.
You wonder sometimes at the naivety of people who think their company e-mails are private just because it says so in the disclaimer attached to those e-mails. Memo to JP Morgan: Unplug the company e-mail system.
In the research department of a big local brokerage firm I worked at 30 years ago we had a good way of dealing with the children of the well-connected, whom the chairman regularly referred to us for jobs. He didn't want them on the dealing desk but knew they were harmless in research.
Our research director, Frank I shall call him, would greet the new hires with great warmth, telling them what a wonderful career choice they had made and how bright a future lay ahead of them.
He would then say: "Now, look, before we really get started, perhaps it would be a good idea if you read yourself in a little, so to speak, by familiarising yourself with some of the investment opportunities we are considering at present."