Market Watch

Chief Advisor to US Treasury Becomes JPMorgan's Second Most Important Man

Per Hedge HERE


With Tim Geithner having proven repeatedly and beyond a reasonable doubt he has insurmountable intellectual challenges, many have wondered just who it is that makes the real decisions at the US Treasury? The answer is, The Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee, or the TBAC in short, chaired by JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs, which meets every quarter, and in which the richest people in America set the fate of the US for the next 3 months….

 As reported yesterday, here it is officially:
-     JPMORGAN SAYS INA DREW TO RETIRE; MATT ZAMES NAMED NEW CIO
-     JPMORGAN SAYS DANIEL TO STAY CEO OF EUROPE/MIDEAST/AFRICA
-     JPMORGAN SAYS CAVANAGH TO LEAD LOSS TEAM
-     JPMORGAN CHASE SAYS ZAMES NAMED NEW CIO

Now… Matt Zames… Matt Zames… where have we heard that name before… OH YES: he just happens to be the Chairman of the Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee, aka the TBAC, aka the Superommittee that Really Runs America. The Matt Zames who… “previously worked at hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management LP, may have benefited as the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and JPMorgan’s takeover of Bear Stearns Cos. left companies and hedge funds with fewer trading partners in the private derivatives markets.”

A senior executive in the inner circle of JPMorgan Chase’s chief executive, Jamie Dimon, is leaving the nation’s largest bank, the latest chapter in management turnover after the bank’s multibillion-dollar trading loss.

The executive, Frank Bisignano, the co-chief operating officer, is expected to leave as early as this week, according to several people with knowledge of his decision. The trading losses at the bank have swelled to more than $6.2 billion since first disclosed almost a year ago.

With Mr. Bisignano’s departure, executives who once surrounded Mr. Dimon as he helped steer the bank through the 2008 financial crisis will be even thinner. Several other executives have already left, including Heidi Miller, James E. Staley, Bill Winters and Steve Black.

Mr. Bisignano will become chief executive of First Data Corporation, a payment processing firm, people with knowledge of the matter said. Matt Zames, who had shared the role of chief operating officer with Mr. Bisignano, is expected to take over all aspects of the job, according to people with knowledge of the decision, which they said, should make a smooth transition.

To summarize: the man who is the chief advisor to the US Treasury on its debt funding and issuance strategy was just promoted to the rank of second most important person at the biggest commercial bank in the US by assets (of which it was $2.5 trillion), and second biggest commercial bank in the world. And soon, Jamie willing, Matt is set for his final promotion, whereby he will run two very different enterprises: JPMorgan Chase and, indirectly, United States, Inc.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you take over the world.