Biggest US banks would ditch securities arms in bankruptcy

Washington

BIG US banks said they would chop off Wall Street arms and non-essential units if the companies were to fail, with JPMorgan Chase & Co slashing its broker-dealer operations by as much as two thirds.

Twelve banks granted the public a clearer look at their living wills on Monday after regulators demanded that they present more convincing plans this year for dismantling themselves in the event of failure. While the excerpts give investors and traders a better sense of what will happen in a crisis, the companies won't learn for months whether the proposals are good enough to satisfy the authorities and head off pressure to divest businesses.