JPMorgan boss buys €23.6m worth of bank’s shares

Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, spent $26.6m (€23.66m) to buy shares of his bank on Thursday after they tumbled to the lowest price in more than two years. Yesterday, the stock surged 8%, the most in more than four years.

Mr Dimon, 59, bought 500,000 shares, bringing his total holding to 6.75m shares, according to a regulatory filing.

He made the purchase because he believes the stock is cheap after a worldwide rout in equities, according to a person with knowledge of his thinking. JPMorgan, the largest US lender by assets, had dropped 20% this year through the end of regular trading on Thursday in New York.

Other global banks including Citigroup, Bank of America, Credit Suisse Group, and Deutsche Bank had all plunged more than 32% through Thursday. Yesterday, the 24-company KBW Bank Index added 5%, led by JPMorgan, which also was the biggest gainer in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The shares rose to $57.32 at midday in New York, the biggest intraday advance since December 2011.

Executives can sometimes shore up confidence in their firms after purchasing shares in the open market.

Citigroup CEO Michael Corbat and chairman Michael O’Neill each bought about $1m of their bank’s shares on January 22 after they fell to the lowest in more than three years. On Thursday, Citigroup chief financial officer John Gerspach purchased 13,000 shares for about $489,000, according to a filing.