JP Morgan Chase 2015 Annual Report Download - page 48

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Most banks actually are trusted by their
clients, but generically, they are not. This
dichotomy also is true with politicians,
lawyers and the media – people trust the
individuals they know, but when it comes
to whether people trust them as a group,
they do not. We believe that the only way to
be restored to a position of trust is to earn
it every day in every community and with
every client.
The reality is that banks, because of the disci-
plined role they sometimes have to play and
the need to say no in some instances, will not
always be the best of friends with some of
their clients. But banks still need to discharge
that responsibility while continuing to regain
a position of trust in society. There is no easy,
simple answer other than:
• Maintain steadfast, consistent and trans-
parent behavior wherever they operate.
• Communicate honestly, clearly and
consistently.
• Deliver great products and services.
• Admitting to mistakes is good, fixing
them is better and learning from them is
essential.
• Make it easy for customers to deal with you
– particularly when they have problems.
• Work with customers who are struggling –
both individuals and companies.
• Focus on the customer and treat all clients
the way you would want to be treated.
• Be great citizens in the community.
Establish strong relationships with govern-
ments and civic society.
• Treat regulators like full partners – and
accept that you will not always agree.
When they make a change in regulations,
even ones you don’t like, accept them and
move on.
• As an industry, make fewer mistakes and
behave better – the bad behavior of one
individual reverberates and aects the
entire industry.
Finally, strong regulators and stronger
standards for banks must ultimately mean
that banks are meeting more rigorous stan-
dards. Every bank is doing everything in its
power to meet regulatory standards. It has
been eight years since the financial crisis
and six years since Dodd-Frank. Regulators
should take more credit for the extraordi-
nary amount that has been accomplished
and should state this clearly to the American
public. This should help improve consumer
confidence in the banking system – and
in the economy in general. Consumer and
business confidence is the secret sauce for a
healthy economy. It is free, and it would be
good to sprinkle a bit more of it around.
Are you and your regulators thinking more comprehensively and in a forward-looking way to
play a role in helping to accelerate global growth?
By any reasonable measure, the financial
system is unquestionably stronger, and regu-
lators deserve a lot of credit for this. But it
also is true that thousands of rules, regula-
tions and requirements were made – and
needed to be made – quickly. The political
and regulatory side wanted it done swiftly
to ensure that events that happened in the
Great Recession would never happen again.
But now is the time when we can and should
look at everything more deliberately and
assess whether recent reforms have gener-
ated unintended consequences that merit
attention.
Some people speak of regulation like it is a
simple, binary tradeo – a stronger system
or slower growth or vice versa. We believe
that many times you can come up with
regulations that do both – create a stronger
system and enhance growth.
Will banks ever regain a position of trust? How will this be done?