JPMORGAN CHASE WHALE TRADES: A CASE HISTORY OF DERIVATIVES RISKS AND ABUSES

120
Mr. Martin-Artajo: [interrupting] “Ok, ok, ok….”
Mr. Iksil: “… [Y]ou know, it’s just that, I have to, I don’t know, I thought, I thought
that was, that was not realistic, you know, what we were doing, and I said probably I was
wrong, you know, I thought that it was this estimate before tomorrow, you know, was the
way to, because I know Ina is going to read the comments, so,maybe it will leave some
time and she will have different questions, or, I don’t know. ... [I]t’s one mistake for
another here, because if I don’t --”
Mr. Martin-Artajo: “No, no, man, no man.”
Mr. Iksil: “I think I do a worst one, you know. It’s sort of my logic is strange but, in
fact I have to choose between one bad thing and one thing that I think was worse.” 706
Mr. Martin-Artajo responded that he had already informed Ms. Drew that the SCP was
experiencing problems, which was why he and Mr. Macris had a meeting scheduled to seek her
guidance on how to proceed.
Mr. Martin-Artajo: “I’m trying to get all the facts in front of Achilles and Ina, the fact
that we show a loss here, it’s ok, it’s not, it is a problem, you know, I’ve already told her
that there’s a problem, so, you know, I’ve already told her, so, you know we’re going to
sit down tomorrow and talk about the CRM 707
we’re going to talk about the problems.
You know I’ve sent you an email on what she wants to discuss tomorrow she wants to
see the changes in the book, okay So you need to make sure that Julien does that.”
Mr. Iksil: “It, I was working on it.” 708
Finally, Mr. Iksil apologized to Mr. Martin-Artajo for creating more work for him with
Ms. Drew, but also reaffirmed his belief that the CIO needed to get its marks closer to market
value, stating: “we had to get closer to where the market is even if the market is wrong.”
Mr. Martin-Artajo: “I didn’t want to show the P&L and Achilles told me yesterday not
to do it. So, okay, so we’re just going to have to explain that this is getting worse, that’s
it. …”
Mr. Iksil: “… Sorry for that …. in any case, I feel bad. If I do that I know I’m not
making your life easier, and if --”
706
Id. at 366-367.
707
“CRM” refers to the “Comprehensive Risk Measure,” which JPMorgan used to measure portfolio risk in the
context of calculating its capital requirements; generally, federal regulators require banks to acquire more capital
when engaging in higher risk activities. For more information on CRM, see Chapter V.
708
3/20/2012 transcript of recorded telephone conversation between Bruno Iksil, CIO, and Javier Martin-Artajo,
CIO , JPM-CIO-PSI-H 006392, at 397.