JPMorgan Chase (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon took a long-term view on the U.S. economy and talked up the bank's competitive position in a wide-ranging interview with CNBC on Monday.
He suggested that his bank makes the world a better place.
"I think that JPMorgan makes it a better world," Dimon said Monday. "Every single day in 2,000 communities around the world, trying to do our job well, responsibly lending, opening branches, serving businesses."
Dimon also said he's seeing positive signs for the U.S. economy, and he sought to play down legislation brewing that could alter how large financial institutions do business on Wall Street.
"I wouldn't be over-sensitive to short-term data ," the chairman and CEO said in Irvine, California, on the bank's bus tour , which gives it the opportunity to solicit feedback from staffers.
At the same time, Dimon is sensitive to the economy's dependence on data. He said that if the next U.S. president implements the appropriate reform programs, that GDP could rise to 4 percent. And in his bullish outlook for the American economy, he highlighted increasing wages and consumer spending as evidence.
But banks still need a little help. Most bank shares are down in 2016, as central bankers have not lifted interest rates as much as market watchers suspected they would. Dimon said that "normalizing interest rates would be a good thing," but he declined to make any specific projections.
Democrats and Republicans are contemplating the return of Glass-Steagall , the legislation that would break up banks' unified commercial and investment banking operations. Dimon sounded off on the recent shift in tone coming from Washington.
The absence of "Glass-Steagall had nothing to do with the crisis," Dimon said. The act, which forced investment and commercial banks to remain separate entities, was repealed in 1999. That repeal is blamed by some for the financial crisis and subsequent Great Recession that began in 2008, though others question the validity of that link.
Most Wall Street banks have had to cut staff to offset declining profitability, but in its last earnings call, JPMorgan Chase executives revealed they were adding hires . Dimon said Monday that the bank may yet launch new branches, as well.
"If we can find a good place to open a branch, we'll open a branch," he said.
Late last month, the bank exceeded second-quarter estimates with a profit of $1.55 per share, compared with estimates of $1.43 a share. The bank also reported better-than-expected revenue of $25.2 billion.
Shares of the bank are down 3.5 percent year to date.
By: CNBC.
Photo: Yahoo.
Review: Emerging Market Formulations & Research Unit, FLAGSHIP RECORDS.
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