Sen. Elizabeth Warren branded Jamie Dimon “the star of the overdraft show” as she accused him and other Wall street titans of dinging customers with fees while they struggled during the pandemic.
At a testy Senate Banking Committee hearing on Thursday, the Massachusetts Democrat noted that financial regulators had eased conditions for banks at the outbreak of the pandemic. Banks, she griped, didn’t respond by waiving customers’ overdraft fees as the government had suggested.
Warren then asked each CEO with a consumer bank to raise their hands if had waived their customers’ overdraft fees as the government had suggested. Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, Wells Fargo CEO Charles Scharf and Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan kept their hands down.
Warren then turned the spotlight on Dimon, noting that she had “done the math” and found that his bank had charged nearly $1.5 billion in overdraft fees last year — more than seven times any other competitor.
“Mr Dimon, will you commit right now to refund the $1.5 billion you took from consumers during the pandemic?” Warren demanded.
“No,” Dimon responded tersely, looking visibly annoyed and exasperated. “We waived fees for customers upon request if they
