If Everyone Loses Money Together It's Fine

Steinhoff fallout.

Last week I emitted an appreciative whistle about the JPMorgan Chase & Co. banker who signed up for a chunk of the Steinhoff International Holdings margin loan, lost $143 million on the trade, and then got that trade mentioned in JPMorgan's earnings release. "You have to do something really special to get called out individually in an earnings release," I said. So double kudos to the Bank of America Corp. banker who also took down a Steinhoff loan, lost $292 million on it, and got called out twice in BofA's earnings. "The provision for credit losses increased $154 million to $162 million, reflecting Global Markets' portion of a single-name non-U.S. commercial charge-off," reported the Global Markets division, while the Global Banking division chimed in to add "Provision for credit losses increased $119 million to $132 million, driven by Global Banking's portion of a single-name non-U.S. commercial charge-off." (That may not refer entirely to the Steinhoff margin loan that toasted JPMorgan; Bank of America has other loans out to Steinhoff.) It's less embarrassing when you parcel the loss out among two divisions. Citigroup apparently did the same: