The entire London staff of JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s chiefinvestment office is at risk of dismissal as a $2 billion tradingloss prompts the first executive departures as soon as this week, aperson familiar with the situation said.

Ina Drew, who oversees the unit, may resign as soon as thisweek, according to another person, who requested anonymity becausethe deliberations are private. Joseph Evangelisti, a bankspokesman, said Drew would have no comment. While the firm isexamining whether anyone in the unit, which employs a few dozenpeople in London, sought to hide risks, there isn't yet evidencethat's the case, one of the people said.

Chief Executive Jamie Dimon, 56, announced the loss May 10,assailing his firm's handling of trading in synthetic creditsecurities as “flawed, complex, poorly reviewed, poorly executedand poorly monitored.” Initially, he resisted accepting Drew'sresignation, the person said. The incident has given ammunition toproponents of stricter bank regulations.

Dimon “has to clarify the management changes that have to takeplace to ensure that a firm line has been drawn under this,” saidChristopher Wheeler, a London-based analyst at Mediobanca SpA.

Drew, 55, is one of two women on the operating committee atJPMorgan, the biggest and most profitable U.S. bank. Her officeoversees about $360 billion, the difference between money fromdeposits and what the bank lends. Dimon had encouraged her unit toboost earnings by buying higher-yielding assets, includingstructured credit, equities and derivatives, in an expansion ofrisk-taking led by Achilles Macris, ex-employees said in April.

Macris, 50, and a trader on his team, Javier Martin-Artajo, alsoare leaving the New York-based firm with Drew, the Wall StreetJournal reported yesterday, citing the unidentified people. Macrisand Martin-Artajo didn't respond to messages left outside ofregular business hours.

Bloomberg News

Copyright 2018 Bloomberg. All rightsreserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten,or redistributed.