News for 'BSC' - (=DJ US Sen Dodd:Bear Stearns-JPM Deal Raises "Serious" Questions)
By Michael R. Crittenden
OF DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--U.S. lawmakers stepped up their scrutiny of JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s (JPM) purchase of Bear Stearns Cos. (BSC) on Wednesday, with the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee scheduling an April 3 hearing that could feature testimony from the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department.
Expressing concern about the federal government's role in engineering the deal, Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., has asked Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to testify before the committee.
"While it is imperative to maintain the orderly structure of our markets, the sale agreement between JPMorgan Chase and Bear Stearns raises serious public policy questions," Dodd said in a statement.
Others asked to testify include Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox, Bear Stearns Chief Executive Alan Schwartz, JPMorgan Chairman James Dimon, and Timothy Geithner, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Dodd called the deal an "unprecedented arrangement," citing the Fed's decision to guarantee up to $30 billion in possible losses to help facilitate the acquisition. He said he was concerned about the impact on investors and the financial markets, as well as the exposure of taxpayers to any future losses stemming from the deal.
Earlier Wednesday, the top two members of the Senate Finance Committee also said they plan to seek more information about the deal. Sens. Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said they had requested documents, names and other information from the Fed, Treasury and the two companies pertaining to the deal.
Baucus said in a statement that it was the finance committee's responsibility "to pin down just how the government decided to front $30 billion in taxpayer dollars...and to monitor the changing terms of the sale."
-By Michael R. Crittenden, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9273; michael.crittenden@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 26, 2008 15:34 ET (19:34 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2008 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.- - 03 34 PM EDT 03-26-08
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