JPMorgan's Dimon called to testify in Senate

A Senate panel has called Jamie Dimon, the head of JPMorgan Chase, to testify about some $2 billion lost in complex trades intended to hedge against economic risk.

"Our due diligence has made it clear that the Banking Committee should hear directly from JPMorgan Chase's CEO Jamie Dimon," said Sen. Tim Johnson, a South Dakota Democrat who runs the panel.

E-mails and calls to spokesmen at the bank were not immediately returned.

Last week, JPMorgan disclosed it had suffered the $2 billion trading loss on a series of complex bets on credit default swaps, a kind of derivative sometimes used to hedge against risk.

Since then, the Federal Bureau of Investigation as well as the Securities and Exchange Commission have opened preliminary investigations.

The Senate Banking Committee on Monday announced hearings to look into the trading losses from a regulatory angle. At the time, lawmakers said they planned to question regulators, not JPMorgan Chase officials.

But on Thursday, Johnson announced he intended to invite Dimon to speak after the two planned hearings with regulators scheduled for May 22 and June 6.

"I encourage all of my colleagues on the Banking Committee to participate in these three critically important and timely hearings, so we can all better understand the facts," Johnson said.

Sen. Bob Corker, a Tennessee Republican, last week was the first to call for a hearing.

House Financial Services Committee and House Oversight Committee staff members said they had no plans yet to hold hearings yet.

At a hearing on Wednesday, Rep. Spencer Bachus, an Alabama Republican who runs the financial services panel, said he had no intention of calling a hearing to look into the losses at JP Morgan Chase until more details become available.