JPMorgan won't attend securities market conference

NEW YORK, Jan 14 (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N), the second-largest U.S. bank by assets, this week told investors it would not attend a key bond market conference in Las Vegas due to the "current environment."

The annual conference, held by the American Securitization Forum, in previous years has been the financial industry's largest event promoting the market for securitized assets, such as residential and commercial mortgages, credit card receivables and auto loans.

The ASF is taking steps to restart the frozen markets, which due to rising collateral defaults, a global credit crunch and investor flight from risk have led to hundreds of billions of dollars in losses.

But the absence of a major bond dealer is a tacit admission that the markets may remain unprofitable in 2009, one investor said.

"Given the current environment, JPMorgan has decided not to attend this year's ASF 2009 conference in Las Vegas," the company said in an e-mail to an investor on Wednesday, whose contents were confirmed by a JPMorgan spokesman.

"Despite our absence from the conference, JPM remains fully committed to our issuer and investor clients, the securitization markets in general and the American Securitization Forum," the e-mail read.

ASF Executive Director George Miller in a statement said many large financial institutions, investors, issuers and other firms will participate in the conference, which has more than 2,600 registered to date. On the ASF website, he predicted registrants would build to 3,000 to 4,000.

The ASF and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association in 2008 launched a number of initiatives to refresh investor confidence, including ways to improve the rating process, increase transparency and better define values of asset-backed securities.

"The theme of the ASF 2009 conference is building the market of the future," Miller said. "The current registration and sponsorship lists demonstrate that the event is attracting leaders in global finance, as well as the regulatory and policymaking community." (Editing by Leslie Adler)