OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — This weekend, leaders of the financial industry are streaming in from across the country and that includes the CEO and chairman of the largest bank in the United States.
Jamie Dimon, who leads JP Morgan Chase, is in town for the weekend of Berkshire Hathaway festivities.
Dimon is considered a titan of the financial industry and his advice and wisdom is sought out by many, similar to Warren Buffet, a figure who goes way back with Dimon himself.
“I think the guy is as smart of a thinker as you’ll find on this planet,” said Dimon about Buffet.
Dimon says he got early inspiration from Buffet, even reading letters in his 20s, some that dated back to the 1950s.
“How he thinks about human nature and issues and companies and economies and so — obviously the world is a very complex place — so you’ll probably get a lot of wisdom from Warren and from Charlie [Munger],” said Dimon.
While Dimon has met Buffet in Omaha before, it’s his first time at the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting. He also recently opened Chase banks in Omaha and took the time Friday to tour the facility and meet with employees.
After the tour, 3 News Now sat down with Dimon to discuss issues facing Omaha and the world, including the economy, where the US is seeing high-interest rates and high inflation amid the war in Ukraine.
He believes that economic conditions across the world could get worse and says it’s a very critical situation.
“War is unpredictable and so now, the sanctions, there’s a lot more that can be done and those sanctions can cause all prices to go up, food prices you probably know a lot about it here, meat prices going up and so those have serious consequences,” said Dimon.
Bitcoin and other forms of cryptocurrency have shaken up the banking industry, and some even go as far to say that it is the future of money.
“I always say I don’t particularly like it, I defend your right to do it. I’d say be very, very careful how much money you put into it,” said Dimon.
But that doesn’t mean he hasn’t embraced some elements of cryptocurrency, specifically blockchain, the system where crypto transactions are made, that’s because the banking industry has its inefficiencies.
“Not all of it’s bad, but if you said to me 'I want to send $200 to a friend in a foreign country,' that could take you four weeks and cost you $40. You could do it through a digital currency and it’ll take you seconds,” said Dimon.
Dimon has also taken up several green initiatives at his company, pushing green energy investments and also prioritizing the reduction of carbon intensity from their financial portfolio.
While continuously getting pressured to do more, he says it needs to be present in the minds of policymakers and in global society for real change to occur.
“This is why we need really thoughtful people to know how to do this intelligently. Otherwise, we’ll spend a lot of money slowing the economy, hurt America, hurt the poor people and not fix CO2 which is kinda where it’s headed if we’re not careful,” said Dimon.
Companies are still figuring out the right model for employees as the global pandemic subsides, whether that be allowing remote work or be in the office.
Dimon says most Americans are already going to work and it’ll be a non-issue, one way or another in five years time.
Download our apps today for all of our latest coverage.
Get the latest news and weather delivered straight to your inbox.
