JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon Says Will Leave China If Ordered

(RTTNews) - JPMorgan Chase (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon said Wednesday that his bank would exit China if the U.S. government ordered, according to CNBC. He also added that the U.S. and China need "real engagement" on security and trade issues.

"If the American government makes me leave China, I'm leaving China," Dimon said at the DealBook Summit during a discussion about a potential future conflict over Taiwan. "If there's a war in Taiwan, you would take all bets off."

JPMorgan has been operating in China since 1921, according to its website. The company does investment and corporate banking, payments and asset management business there.

"No one thinks it's going to happen; it may happen," Dimon said about war over Taiwan. "That would be really bad for the world and really bad for China."

Dimon called relations with China, the world's second-largest economy, "a very complicated subject" and said that engagement with both China and the U.S. government was necessary.

"I think it's good for an American bank to be there to help multinationals around the world and China with their own development if it makes sense," Dimon said. "If for some reason the American government says 'Nope, can't do that anymore,' then so be it."

When Dimon was asked why JPMorgan works with TikTok owner ByteDance, a company that some people believe is effectively an arm of the Chinese government and a national security risk for the US.

Dimon said he would not talk about specific clients, but "you can imagine the due diligence and work we do to figure out the truth about those things."

"If some of those people are doing things that we think are truly bad, we would not bank them," he added. "And of course the American government will have a point of view in that and we'll engage in those conversations too."