Regulators: We learned of JPMorgan loss through media

May 23, 2012 at 12:00a.m.

Los Angeles Times

WASHINGTON

Two key financial regulators told senators Tuesday that they learned of the huge trading loss at JPMorgan Chase & Co. through media reports and that the public wouldn’t be protected from the fallout from future incidents until new rules are finalized to allow better monitoring of such trades.

In the first of several congressional hearings to look at the loss, the heads of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission gave some details about their investigations into the incident.

The SEC is focused on the “appropriateness and completeness” of JPMorgan’s financial disclosures, including whether its recent earnings statements and first-quarter financial reports were “accurate and truthful,” agency chairwoman Mary Schapiro told the Senate Banking Committee.

CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler said his agency’s enforcement division is investigating the credit- derivative products traded by JPMorgan’s Chief Investment Office that led to the loss.