WASHINGTON President Obama met Thursday with chief executives from the largest U.S. banks, including Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., and Goldman Sachs, according to a White House official.
The meeting came a day after the president released his budget and focused on a range of issues related to economic growth and job creation.
"The president discussed his focus on making progress on a number of important priorities, including commonsense immigration reform and working to find a balanced approach to reduce the deficit in a significant way," a White House official said.
The White House meeting was arranged by Rob Nichols, president of the Financial Services Forum, a trade group that represents the country's largest financial institutions, as a part of the day long spring meeting.
Senior administration officials including Valerie Jarrett, a senior advisor to the president, Denis McDonough, the president's chief of staff, and Cecilia Munoz, director of domestic policy for the White House attended the meeting. Gene Sperling, director of the National Economic Council and Alan Krueger, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors, were also present.
Since his re-election, the president has been working to rebuild his relationships with top business leaders, especially those among the banking industry, who he labeled "fat cats" earlier in his presidency.
Business leaders also shared their ideas on how to help bolster confidence and improve the economy, especially when it comes to the housing recovery, the official said.
"The president looks forward to continuing this important dialogue with the business community in the weeks ahead," said the official.
Among those CEOs that attended the meeting including Michael Corbat of Citigroup Inc., Jamie Dimon, the chairman and CEO of JPMorgan, Gerald Hassell, chairman and CEO of The Bank of New York Mellon Corp., Steve Kandarian, chairman, president and CEO of MetLife Inc., Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs, and Brian Moynihan, president and CEO of Bank of America Corp.
