Jamie Dimon Calls JPMorgan’s Frank Acquisition a ‘Huge Mistake’

(Bloomberg) — JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon called the firm’s botched acquisition of college financial-planning website Frank “a huge mistake” and vowed to share takeaways at a later date.

Most Read from Bloomberg

“I’ll tell you the lessons learned here when this thing is out of litigation,” Dimon said Friday on a conference call to discuss fourth-quarter earnings.

JPMorgan is suing the founder of Frank, which it bought for $175 million in 2021, for allegedly concocting millions of fake customers. A lawyer for the founder, Charlie Javice, has disputed the allegations. The debacle threatens to renew concerns about spending at the biggest US bank that plagued the firm for much of last year.

Dimon reiterated his commitment to the firm’s strategy, saying that he doesn’t want JPMorgan to be so “terrified of errors that we don’t do anything.” Acquisitions are done by the business lines, he added, but there’s a centralized team that does due diligence, and “we’ve been doing it for 20 years.”