Dimon Calls Volcker Rule 'Unnecessary' JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon told the Senate Banking Committee that the trades that led to billions in losses were placed by traders who didn't understand the risks they were taking, which could not have been prevented regulation. Jim Sinegal, director of financial services research at Morningstar, an investment firm, said the most "useful" part of the testimony was the continued discussion of the Volcker rule. "I think the trade in question actually highlights the biggest difficulty with the rule -- classifying a bank's investment activity as prop trading, hedging, or other permissible activities," Sinegal said. There weren't too many surprises in the testimony, Sinegal said, though "Dimon was opinionated and charasmatic as usual, which helps his cause." Since the financial crisis, lawmakers have grappled with the difficulty in managing and regulating large banks. On Tuesday, senators asked Dimon to comment about whether the Dodd-Frank Act's Volcker Rule, which prohibits certain proprietary trading and has yet to be finalized, could have stopped the debacle. When pressed by Sen. David Vitter, R-La., about the Volcker Rule, Dimon called it, as it is described thus far, as "vague" and "unnecessary." Instead, Dimon said what are needed from financial firms are factors such as, proper capital, liquidity, risk measures and risk controls. Sinegal said part of the reason this loss has captured the public's attention is because it happened at JP Morgan. If Jamie Dimon missed this large, complex, derivatives risk building, how can we trust that a bigger problem won't occur at another bank? Sinegal said. Dimon said the risk committee meets with management and reviews "a lot of other issues" such as regulation requirements. He defended his committee, saying it took the company through "the worst" financial crisis "with flying colors." Dimon was pressed by the Senators on a number of other issues, including mortgages and farmers who have not received their money back from bankrupt MF Global. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., said about 100 of his constituents are farmers who have not received their hedged money back from MF Global, which inappropriately transferred client funds through JPMorgan. Tester said "there were a lot of farmers that hedged to protect themselves from bad outcomes." "I hope they get all their money back," Dimon said of Tester's constituents. I still believe they will by the way.