JP Morgan Chase chief launches tirade at Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney

The CEO of American banking giant JP Morgan Chase launched a tirade against Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney in a closed-door meeting in front of more than two dozen bankers and finance officials.

Carney seems to be the most unlikely of targets given how Canada's banking sector came through the 2008/09 banking collapse relatively unscathed.

The Financial Times reported the exchange Friday was so heated, Lloyd Blankfein, chief executive of Goldman Sachs, emailed Carney after the meeting to try to smooth relations.

The outburst was the result of ongoing tensions between bankers and international regulators over the Basel III measure, a proposed financial directive that would require all banks to hold larger capital buffers.

Jamie Dimon and other bankers have argued authorities are moving too quickly, choking the profitability of financial firms at the same time governments are calling on them to boost lending to fuel the economic recovery.

Carney dismissed that argument in a speech to global bankers, Sunday, warning them "it is hard to see how backsliding (on implementing new capital rules) would help" the global economy.

"If some institutions feel pressure today, it is because they have done too little for too long, rather than because they are being asked to do too much, too soon," he said in an apparent shot at Dimon.

"Authorities are increasingly hearing concerns about the pitch of the playing field for Basel III implementation. Everyone is claiming to be a boy scout while accusing others of juvenile delinquency."

Carney added: "However, neither merit badges nor detentions will be self-selected, but rather determined by impartial peer review and mutual oversight."

Many believe the 2008 recession was caused by lax banking regulations in the United States while Canada fared much better because of tighter controls of the financial industry.

With that in mind, it seems Mark Carney speaks with some clout on this topic.

(Reuters Photo)