U.S. Senate Banking panel to examine JPMorgan-Bear deal
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd on Wednesday said JPMorgan Chase & Co's bid to acquire Bear Stearns Cos Inc raises regulatory and American taxpayer concerns.
Dodd said he invited Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox to testify at an April 3 hearing to examine their roles in the transaction.
He also invited JPMorgan Chase Chief Executive Jamie Dimon and Bear Stearns CEO Alan Schwartz to testify to explain the transaction which kept Bear Stearns from entering bankruptcy.
A letter was sent to the regulators and the top bosses of the financial institutions to explain the transaction, which would not have been a focus of the committee if it involved only the two companies and not federal regulators, Dodd said.
"The unprecedented nature of some recent actions by the Federal Reserve, Department of the Treasury, and others merits a full and public examination by the committee," he said.
Dodd also wanted a "thorough accounting" of the securities assets the Fed is guaranteeing with public funds, including a chronology and rationale behind selecting those assets.
JPMorgan raised its all-stock offer for Bear Stearns to about $10 a share, roughly five times its original bid, and struck a deal to buy nearly 40 percent of the investment bank.
(Reporting by John Poirier; Editing by Brian Moss, Leslie Gevirtz)
