JPMorgan to pay $920 million for 'London Whale' Probes

               JPMorgan Chase will pay regulators nearly $1 billion to settle a host of oversight and control lapses at the largest U.S. bank, including its so-called London Whale trading fiasco, the Federal Reserve said Thursday. In the midst of a blizzard of regulatory and legal problems, the Fed slapped the bank with a $200 million penalty for "deficiencies in risk management." As a result of its risk management issues, JPMorgan will pay a total of $920 million to various regulators. In addition to the Fed's fine, the U.S.'s largest bank will fork over $300 million to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, $200 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission and approximately $220 million ($137 million pounds) to the United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority.

                        The fine money will be split among regulators, with $300 million going to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, $200 million going to the Securities and Exchange Commission, $200 million to the Federal Reserve and $220 million to the U.K. financial Conduct Authority. The money paid to regulators will likely all end up in the general coffers of the U.S. Treasury and U.K.Finance Ministry and will not increase or fund regulators budgets. The SEC does have the ability to use some of the fine money to compensate investors who can prove they were hurt by JPMorgan's actions. But no such trading losses have yet been established. The money-losing trade was made with JPMorgan funds, not customers assets.

                        The charges JP Morgan settled were civil, not criminal, and none of its current officers were penalized by the authorities. JPMorgan was forced to take the unusual step of admitting it broke federal securities law, in  a sentence buried deep in an annex to the SEC order. Typically banks and other companies that reach a settlement with the SEC agree to pay a fine without either admitting or denying any wrongdoing. That is a legal dodge that has sparked criticism of the SEC in the past. The SEC's Canellos said that while the settlement ends the matter for JPMorgan, the agency's investigation is continuing with respect to individuals involved in the case.