Quartz: Elizabeth Warren doesn’t buy Jamie Dimon’s commitment to conscious capitalism

If you were to host an impromptu dinner party to discuss the role of corporate America in social welfare today, Elizabeth Warren and Jamie Dimon would be close to the top of the guest list. Warren, a Massachusetts senator and former Democratic presidential candidate, has for decades taken up the mantle of causes like consumer protection and income inequality, while Dimon, JPMorgan Chase’s chairman and CEO, has cultivated a reputation for pushing corporate America to embrace a more socially conscious form of capitalism.

But if this week’s Senate Banking Committee hearing is any indication, conversation at a Warren-Dimon dinner party might not make it past the first course. On Wednesday (May 26), the duo faced off as Warren interrogated bank CEOs on their treatment of overdraft fees during the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic.

It started with a question on banks’ treatment of customers struggling with the pandemic’s financial fallout. “So let me ask the CEOs for the four banks—Citibank, Bank of America, Chase, and Wells Fargo—the four banks that collectively manage tens of millions of checking accounts for customers,” Warren began. “While you automatically and at no cost got complete protection from overdraft fees from the Federal Reserve, can you raise your hand if you gave the same automatic protection to your customers and automatically waived their overdraft fees?”

...

Read full article here. 

• Print
• Email
• Tweet