(July 21): JPMorgan Chase & Co CEO Jamie Dimon has reiterated his criticism of the UK’s bank tax surcharge, warning the new UK prime minister that tax hikes could drive capital away.

“If you have an uncompetitive tax system, capital leaves your country,” Dimon said on the Master Investor Podcast with Wilfred Frost, part of a conversation that took place on July 16. While calls to tax lenders “may sound great", such policies “have adverse consequences".

Asked about his previous warning that his bank could scrap plans to build a new London headquarters if levies were increased, Dimon said he doesn’t yet know what he’d do but in any case “wouldn’t make a binary decision like that", he said.

Dimon, who praised the departing UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves, also said UK politicians should be worried about the number of companies that have delisted from London in recent years.

“I wouldn’t want to see that if I was running a country,” he said.

Other topics Dimon touched upon included:

He predicted high global government deficits “will become a problem", noting “very high debt numbers and very high deficit numbers".

Discussing investments in AI, Dimon said: “Will it in total pay off? Probably, just like the internet did. Will it pay off the way you expect and the timetable you expect? Definitely not.”

On the prospects for long-dated bonds, he was bearish. “I would not be a buyer and part of it is interest rates. I mean, even if inflation was 2%, the 10-year bond should probably be at 4-4.5%. And the short rate should be at 3.25-3.5%. And they’re almost there today. So I don’t understand what the upside is, even if you think inflation is going to go to 2%. And it’s been over 3% for almost five years.”

Uploaded by Arion Yeow