JPMorgan Chase announces trading losses

JP Morgan Chase, the largest bank in the US, acknowledged trading losses of $2 billion for the past six weeks. The losses came from derivatives bets which have gone wrong in the bank's Chief Investment Office.

The unit manages risk for the New York-based bank, reported Xinhua.

After factoring in other securities gains, JP Morgan raised its estimates for Chief Investment Office's net losses to $800 million in the second quarter. The unit was previously expected to gain $200 million.

Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JP Morgan, told reporters after US markets closed that the losses were caused by "errors, sloppiness and bad judgement".

"This was a unique thing we did," Dimon said. "Obviously it had a lot of problems. It was a bad strategy. It became more complex, it was poorly managed."

The bank's stocks plunged nearly 7 per cent in after-hours trading after the losses were announced.