US: Dimon tells Big Tech to prep for big regulation

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said tech giants need to brace themselves for a similar slew of tough regulations to what big banks faced after the financial crisis.

“They haven’t had the benefit of the full monty yet,” said Dimon to CNBC, adding that “if I were them, I’d be getting prepared for it.”

Big tech companies like Facebook, Google and Amazon have been feeling the wrath of lawmakers in recent years. Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren has even proposed a plan to break up large tech firms, saying they “have too much power.”

In addition, Google was just hit with its third antitrust fine by European Union (EU) regulators. This time, the company was fined €1.49 billion ($1.7 billion USD) for limiting how some websites used display ads sold by competitors. This fine is smaller than the combined $7.67 billion that the EU fined Google in the past two instances.

It was also recently reported that France is looking to levy a 3 percent digital tax on revenues derived from business done in that country by global tech firms with certain revenue levels. Facebook, Google and Amazon would be subject to the tax, as would a few dozen companies operating in France.

“When you get attacked by someone, you get one group, it could be every country, every AG, every regulator, all at the same time,” Dimon noted. He added that, “they should really gear up and look at it as a very broad-based, extensive type of thing they have to deal with, and listen carefully to the complaints from the other side. There are sometimes legitimate complaints you should be very reactive to.”

It is surprising that Dimon would be so candid about the matter, especially since tech giants often turn to investment banks, including JPMorgan, for advice on acquisitions, as well as raising capital in debt and equity markets.