The Washington Post reported in today's editions that JP Morgan Chase plans to close "its division serving the banking needs of New York and Washington-based diplomats as well as foreign governments." The information came via a curt notice the bank sent to its affected customers. The story noted that personal accounts for diplomats would be available. JP Morgan Chase's correspondence didn't explain the reason for the bank's actions.Other American banks have also gotten the heebie-jeebies about diplomats' accounts. The news is a little startling. Imagine you're the banker on the corner, and a representative from a foreign delegation asks to open an account. What do you say? Sorry? Try a savings and loan? Maybe the whole thing is a US Treasury plot to move diplomatic fund transfers to Western Union, thus giving the poor man's bank an unexpected upscale niche market.
Who knows. One can only hope JP Morgan Chase handles the diplomats' accounts more smoothly than the bank manages its domestic foreclosure cases.
The oil and tempera painting shown above -- Double Portrait of Jean de Dinteville and Georges de Selve -- was created by Hans Holbein the Younger in 1533. It's part of the collection of the National Gallery in London.
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