THE FBI has opened an inquiry into the multibillion-dollar trading losses at JP Morgan Chase, stepping up pressure on the bank after key U.S. agencies said they were looking into high-risk trades that first drew regulators’ attention last month.

    The news did little to spook investors, who sent the stock higher Tuesday, or shareholders, who backed embattled chief executive Jamie Dimon at the bank’s annual shareholders meeting, with a vote rejecting a proposal to split the jobs of CEO and chairman.

    Although investors mostly gave Dimon a pass, pressure mounted on the bank to reclaim some of the millions of dollars it paid to the executives who oversaw the trades. Dimon said JP Morgan would pursue more disciplinary action against those responsible.

    A separate source familiar with the FBI probe, opened by the agency’s New York office, described it as preliminary. The probe was seen in some quarters as a necessary public step, given the ongoing debate in Washington about bank regulation, and one expert said it raised the level of concern around what happened.

    The bank’s trading losses have also drawn the attention of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Reserve, both of which have opened inquiries.(SD-Agencies)