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JPM & Bank Santander Colluding!



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JPM, Santander heads discussed US bank bids-reportBY Reuters
— 10:27 PM ET 02/05/2010
* Dimon, Botin met, discussed bank bids -TheStreet.com

* JPM e-mail detailed executive opinions -report

NEW YORK, Feb 5 (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM) Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon and the chairman of Spain's Banco Santander SA (SIBEX:SAN), Emilio Botin, met in 2008 and discussed bidding on U.S. banks, according to TheStreet.com.

TheStreet.com posted what it said was an internal JPMorgan (JPM) email, dated June 5, 2008, from investment banker Jose Cerezo to colleagues. It recounted the Dimon-Botin meeting, and may draw antitrust scrutiny, TheStreet.com said.

According to the email, posted on TheStreet.com on Feb. 4, JPMorgan (JPM) and Santander discussed the possibilities of bidding on banks including SunTrust Banks Inc (STI), PNC Financial Services Group Inc (PNC), Washington Mutual Inc (WAMUQ) and Wachovia .

The two men agreed that Santander could not compete on price if JPMorgan (JPM) made an offer, and so Santander would not bid if JPMorgan (JPM) were interested, the email said.

Santander would probably hire JPMorgan (JPM) as an adviser if JPMorgan (JPM) was not going after the deals, according to the email, which came to light in recent litigation, TheStreet.com said.

JPMorgan Santander and the U.S. Department of Justice were not immediately available for comment.

Botin suggested jointly pursuing opportunities including Wachovia Corp and asked Dimon why he had not bid for WaMu, according to the email.

Dimon and Botin both expressed interest in buying Citigroup Inc's (C) Mexican banking unit Banamex. Santander said it had tried to buy Citigroup (C) but it was "not for sale", according to the email.

Botin said that Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc (RBS) did not have a strong enough financial position when it went after ABN Amro, according to the email. (Reporting by Clare Baldwin in New York; Editing by Gary Hill)