JPMorgan’s about-face on buybacks

JPMorgan said Thursday it has bought back more than $500 million in stock this year, and CEO Jamie Dimon told investors on a conference call the bank could spend more in coming months.

The buyback effort “just started,” Dimon said Thursday in response to a question on the bank’s capital position, and “doesn’t necessarily have to end.”

The repurchases are the first JPMorgan has made since the financial crisis. They come at a time when the bank is making scads of money, but is not yet willing to raise its quarterly dividend, which was cut by 87% to a nickel at the height of the financial crisis.

Dimon reiterated for the 38^th time Thursday that it will be a while before JPMorgan raises that payout, thanks to ongoing questions about the health of the economy and the amount of capital banks will have to hold in a reregulated world.

But Dimon left the door open for further repurchases. That marks a shift from May’s shareholder meeting, when JPMorgan’s buyback apparently hadn’t started and Dimon seemed to downplay the prospects for one.

SHAREHOLDER: My name is Barbara Kaye, and I know you are not going to raise the dividend until everything gets better. But would you consider a special dividend?

DIMON: Not quite yet.

KAYE: Not quite yet? How about …

DIMON: We are not trying to tease you. We just want to do the right thing.

KAYE: How about a stock buyback program? Are you going to consider that?

DIMON: We have one in place, which we have not used for years. And there is a chance that some time down the road we will start doing some of that, too.

Dimon said Thursday that JPMorgan will be able to make better decisions about the pace of dividend increases and buybacks once it knows just how much capital new regulations will call for. Banking referrees in Basel, Switzerland, hope to draft new rules by year end.

“I think we are trying to clear a lot of uncertainties about capital,” Dimon said. “When they do, we will have plenty of capital.”