"The market is doing stupid things": the head of JPMorgan saw signs of a crisis on the scale of 2008

The head of the largest US bank JPMorgan Jamie Dimon said he sees signs in the financial market reminiscent of the situation before the 2008 crisis. He warned of risks in lending amid aggressive competition and weakening standards. Fears that a bubble is inflating in private lending are increasingly worrying investors.

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon compared the situation in the financial markets to the period of 2005-2007, when rapid growth and high yields hid the accumulated risks in the credit system.

He recognized that in times when "everyone is making money," it is easy to succumb to a sense of prosperity. High asset prices and a large money supply give the impression that there will be no major problems. However, when assessing the totality of factors, Dimon prefers to remain cautious. "Unfortunately, we saw this in 2005, 2006 and 2007 - pretty much the same thing - the tide was lifting all the boats and everybody was making a lot of money," Seeking Alpha quotes him as saying.

High competition and declining standards are pushing individual market participants to take excessive risk, Dimon said. "I see a few players doing stupid things to build up net interest income."

The JPMorgan head emphasized that the source of the next shock may not be obvious. "There is always a surprise in the credit cycle. The surprise has often been which sector will be hit hardest," he said, adding that this time the software sector in particular could be hit amid the AI boom, Seeking Alpha reports.

In October 2025, the head of JPMorgan already warned of signs of possible deterioration in credit conditions, commenting on the bankruptcies of auto lender Tricolor Holdings and auto parts manufacturer First Brands. At the time, he described the situation as, "If you see one cockroach, there are probably more.

Dimon's warnings came amid increased investor scrutiny of the $1.8 trillion private credit market, Bloomberg reported. Concerns escalated after one of the major players, Blue Owl, ran into difficulties.

By the end of 2025, this company had more than $300 billion under management, recalls Bloomberg. On February 18, it permanently restricted quarterly withdrawals in one of the funds, saying it had accelerated the return of capital through the sale of assets worth $1.4 billion. Despite assurances about preserving liquidity, some investors saw the move as a possible signal of tension in the credit sector, CNN reports.

Blue Owl stock is down 15% in the last 5 days.

Economist Mohamed El-Erian, like Dimon, saw parallels in the market to the onset of the 2008 crisis: the Blue Owl situation, he argued, is not comparable in scale, but raises questions about broader systemic risks in the industry and the potential significant hit to individual asset values.

Fourier Asset Management Chief Investment Officer Orlando Jemez also stated that "the warning signs in private credit are strikingly reminiscent of 2007."

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor