Two of the world’s biggest banks, JP Morgan and HSBC, have stressed the importance of being able to operate without calling on public sector cash to bolster their capital, according to Reuters.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in

Davos,
Switzerland, JP Morgan chief executive Jamie Dimon said the Wall Street bank has “plenty of capital” and wants governments to stop talking about nationalising banks.

Both of the banks contain large wealth management operations. Since the credit crisis erupted and governments stepped in to bail out banks and in some cases, take them over, it has raised concerns about whether clients of private banks will want to hold money in institutions that are now part of government, particularly at a time when states such as the US and UK are putting pressure on offshore tax jurisdictions.

"JP Morgan would be fine if we stopped talking about [the] damn nationalization of banks ... we've got plenty of capital," Mr Dimon said.

On 15 January, JP Morgan reported a 76 per cent fall in fourth-quarter profit as it wrote down bad loans, suggesting that even the bank that has avoided the worst of the credit crunch is struggling with the recession.

At the time, Mr Dimon called the results "very disappointing."

Underlining the bank's confidence, Mr Dimon said JP Morgan had lent $150 billion in the last 90 days including $50 billion in the interbank market, also to European and British banks, but added: "It's scary because at the end of the day you have to survive."

"I'm hoping by the end of the year we're coming out of the crisis," he told journalists.

He said more acquisitions were unlikely as JP Morgan was busy absorbing recent buys.

Mr Dimon admitted bankers had done "some really stupid things" but he also hit out at policy makers and regulators, adding that the Basel II capital rules has flaws and needed to be adjusted.

Meanwhile, HSBC, one of the few

UK banks that has so far been able to weather the crisis without state help, sees value for its clients in remaining independent, its chairman said at the WEF annual conference in Davos.

"It is true that we haven't taken government capital," HSBC Group chairman Stephen Green said.

"We do see value for our proposition both for investors and customers in being a clearly independent, international bank, unquestionably," he said.

Mr Green said that governments, many of which had bought stakes in banks to prop them up during the crisis, will gradually sell their positions.

"I believe that over time that state intervention that has taken place as part of the recapitalisation of various banks will gradually be rolled back. Gradually state ownership will have to be sold down as ... institutions return to health," Mr Green said.