JP Morgan’s penalties for the "London whale"
trading fiasco, in which up to $6.2 billion was lost, could be as high as $600
million in a settlement due to be completed as early as September, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing
unnamed sources.

A raft of UK and US regulators, such as the US Justice
Department, US Securities and Exchange Commission and the UK’s Financial
Conduct Authority have been investigating the Wall Street bank’s handling of
the affair. Not all agencies have agreed to their final numbers and the total
could still be above or below the range, one source is quoted by the WSJ as saying.

Family Wealth Report
is in contact with JP Morgan on the matter. The bank declined to comment.

The losses were revealed in the spring of 2012. While not
strictly a wealth management issue, the losses at this large bank highlight the
reputational damage that can be caused by such adverse news headlines. Firms
such as UBS, for example, have also sustained large trading losses in recent
years, leading to management resignations and restructuring of business units.
(In the case of UBS, it lost $2.3 billion due to a London-based rogue trader
who was subsequently convicted and jailed last year.)

JP Morgan, a bank that had been one of the few big financial
firms to emerge with its status enhanced rather than diminished through the
2008 financial crisis, suffered the losses caused by wrong-way bets on the
credit derivatives market. A UK
trader known as the "Whale," Bruno Iksil, made a credit derivatives bet that
hit the bank; the move has led to the departures of several senior figures.

The WSJ report
said negotiations over a settlement are part of a larger effort by JP Morgan to
draw a line under a number of legal wrangles.

One US
regulator is asking JP Morgan to pay more than $6 billion to settle claims that
the bank misled mortgage-finance companies Fannie Mae FNMA and Freddie Mac about
the quality of mortgages it sold to them during the housing boom, the news
service said, citing unnamed sources. JP Morgan is resisting the amount, these
people added.