James Moore: JPMorgan boss doesn't look quite so untouchable

Wasn't sorry supposed to be the hardest word? Not in Jamie Dimon's world. Since it emerged that his bank, JPMorgan, has lost $2bn (so far) through placing bad bets in the financial casino, the chief executive has demonstrated considerable creativity in finding ways to express regret (sorry, we got it wrong, we were stupid, we've got egg on our faces, etc etc). But contrition? That's rather more difficult to discern. After all, this was a man who only last week was railing against US Democrats (he claims to be one, but barely) for supposedly creating a climate of resentment towards successful people. A man who had called criticism of too-big-to-fail banks "infantile".

Set against this sort of rhetoric, Mr Dimon's apologies don't so much look like expressions of regret as they do the first phase in a carefully crafted damage-limitation exercise whose ultimate aim is to keep him in his job.

Phase two was under way yesterday. Ina Drew had the overall responsibility for JPMorgan's London-based chief investment office. It built up the enormous positions in derivatives that have gone badly wrong and she is retiring. Two of her subordinates, Achilles Macris and Javier Martin-Artajo, who were closer to the flames, will likely be given the chance to join her on the beach. The job of the now-beached London Whale, Bruno Iksil, the man in the eye of the storm, will be to fetch their strawberry daiquiris. Their holidays will be funded by lucrative payoffs in return for signatures on frightening looking confidentiality agreements.

Meanwhile a restructuring of their unit will follow (phase three), in which it will have its wings clipped and its location moved from London to New York. The above four may be joined by several of their colleagues over the coming weeks. But probably not by the person who really ought to be booking his flights to the Caribbean. That is Mr Dimon, who is, after all, paid $17m to ensure that JP Morgan doesn't suffer through this sort of scandal.

Until last week he was still being lauded by his defenders as the man who charted a steady course through the storms of the financial crisis. How much of that was his judgement and how much was luck is now open to question. Because his judgement looks seriously flawed.

In his furious assault on banking reform, Mr Dimon has become the poster child for the sort of thinking that has led to its necessity.

The losses, at least so far, don't amount to much for a bank as big as JPMorgan. It is so big that were it to fail, even the eurozone crisis might look like a minor local difficulty. Is Mr Dimon really the right man to be in charge of such an institution? That is a question that needs to be asked.