Trump held conference call with big bank CEOs amid market turmoil: source

[August 17, 2019]  By Steve Holland and Pete Schroeder

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump held a conference call on Wednesday with the chief executives of the three largest Wall Street banks as financial markets were in turmoil, one source with direct knowledge of the matter said on Friday.

JPMorgan <JPM.N>'s Jamie Dimon, Bank of America<BAC.N>'s Brian Moynihan and Citigroup's <C.N> Michael Corbat discussed the health of the banking sector with Trump, who was at his resort in Bedminster, New Jersey, the person said.

The call came on a day that saw all three major U.S. indexes close down roughly 3% amid ongoing concerns about the global economy.

The three CEOs were in Washington at the time of the call with Trump, according to four people with direct knowledge of the matter. They were in the nation's capital to discuss long-sought changes to anti-money laundering and bank secrecy rules with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, the people said.

The meeting with the Treasury had been scheduled several weeks in advance, the people said. At that meeting, the bank executives told Treasury officials they believed the banking sector is in good health, with plenty of liquidity and capital, one person said.

President Donald Trump talks to reporters as he boards Air Force One for travel to Pennsylvania from Morristown Municipal Airport in Morristown, New Jersey, U.S. August 13, 2019. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo

In June, the Federal Reserve signed off on the capital plans for 17 of the nation's largest banks, citing their strong capital levels.

Global markets have been roiled this week as investors fretted about the risk of recession and U.S.-China trade tensions. Wall Street's three main indexes are down at least 1.5% since last Friday, on track to rack up their third consecutive week of losses.

The Treasury Department declined to comment on the meeting.

(Reporting by Pete Schroeder and Steve Holland; additional reporting by Elizabeth Dilts and David Henry; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Michelle Price and Cynthia Osterman)

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