Jamie Dimon says ‘justice was served’ after Derek Chauvin found guilty for murder of George Floyd

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said Wednesday that “justice was served” after a jury found ex- Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin guilty on all three charges, including second-degree murder, for the killing of George Floyd.

“Justice was served, it’s the beginning of a long path to fix some of these things,” Dimon said at the start of a JPMorgan event for clients with head of wealth management Kristin Lemkau.

“We haven’t solved this racial inequality problem for hundreds of years, and in fact in some decades it’s gone backwards,” Dimon said. “We can acknowledge, in my view, that America is a shining light on a hill, it’s an unbelievable country” but that there are flaws that need addressing, he said.

Dimon pointed to JPMorgan’s $30 billion commitment to help close America’s racial wealth gap, including $8 billion in mortgages to Black and Latino households. The firm’s wealth management division recently said it will hire 300 more Black or Latino advisors over the next five years.

During the wide-ranging discussion, Dimon reiterated his bullish view on the economy and markets, but he acknowledged that markets had priced in a “goldilocks” scenario, and if inflation exceeded expectations or the Federal Reserve acts more aggressively to rein in support, a correction could occur.

Another risk: there is “always a chance that we have another violent, deadly virus” that current vaccines don’t work against. In that scenario, “all bets are off.”

Earlier this month, Dimon said that a U.S. economic boom fueled by deficit spending and effective vaccines could “easily run into 2023,” and that the strong economy may justify elevated valuations in the stock market.

JPMorgan is pushing to capture more revenue from managing assets, and has seen record retail trading volumes and account signups through its Chase app in the first quarter, according to a bank spokeswoman.

Last week, JPMorgan exceeded expectations for first-quarter profit on strong trading results and the release of $5.2 billion it had previously set aside for loan losses.