Bank CEOs Meet With Obama: 'We're All In This Together'

Top US bankers met with President Obama on Friday and expressed support for his plan to rid financial institutions of bad debt. But in separate interviews with CNBC, the CEOs indicated that the industry's problems are far from over.

"We don't normally disclose monthly results, but March was a little rough," JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said outside the White House after he and other bankers met with the president to discuss the economy and other issues.

Dimon's comments were echoed by Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis, who said: "trading book for March was not as good" as the first two months of this year.

The meeting with Obama came just days after the Treasury Department provided details on a government plan to cleanse banks' balance sheets of up to $1 trillion in distressed loans and securities.

• Watch CNBC Video of Dimon Interview

"The president opened up by talking about the importance of dealing with toxic assets and getting banks lending again," White House spokesman Robert Gibb said. "It's fair to say that they (the executives) agreed on the need to update the framework of regulations."

During the meeting, Obama went around the the room and asked a lot of questions of the banking executives, Dimon said.

"Not everyone agrees with everything," Dimon said. "But I think it is fabulous that he and his team will spend the time to do that."

"The basic message is we're all in this together," Wells Fargo chief executive John Stumpf told CNBC after the meeting.

CNBC.com Jamie Dimon

BofA's Lewis told CNBC, "It was a cooperative meeting, but we recognize we can't agree on everything."

When asked about TARP funding, Dimon said: "TARP was discussed extensively during the meeting. The president did not express objections over anyone refusing TARP money."

When asked how long JP Morgan will keep the TARP money it received,  Dimon said: "We have no immediate timetable as to when that money will be returned." He also said JP Morgan had no need to raise further equity right now.

Bofa CEO Lewis said: "We still want to give TARP money back as soon as we can."

• Watch CNBC interview with Ken Lewis

Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein said "It's in everyone's interest to return the TARP money at a point when we can do so." As for the government's upcoming stress tests on the banks Blankfein said: "We look forward to it. The results will formulate future plans."

Executive compensation was also a hot topic at the meeting.

"The president expressed that he would like to see more self restraint on compensation," Dimon said. "JP Morgan is already making people take more of their compensation in stock."

Dimon said CEOs admitted in the meeting with Obama that there had been a lot of mistakes when it came to executive compensation but that, "The bank CEOs want do do what's best for America."

• Watch CNBC interview with Citigroup's CEO Vikram Pandit

Lewis also said that, "I got the impression that cooler heads will prevail on compensation issues."

Lewis also addressed the issue of missteps by the banks saying, "I think there are very few financial institutions that would not say we haven't made mistakes and feel awfully bad about the mistakes we've made."

Gibbs said President Obama emphasized the need to work together to solve the financial crisis and lift the economy out of recession.

Gibbs went on to say that Obama's conversation with the bankers also touched on the administration's housing plan, its proposal for tighter regulation of the financial industry and the issue of executive compensation.

Gibbs says the president emphasized that Wall Street needs Main Street and vice versa.

Meanwhile, the government said Friday it will test 19 of the largest U.S. banks to see how they would perform under more adverse economic conditions than they are expected to face.

Officials have said the tests are not pass/fail, and are instead designed to determine the amount of capital they might need if conditions further deteriorate. The government has until the end of April to complete the tests.

Obama flies to Europe next week for a summit of leaders from the Group of 20 leading emerging and industrial economies, which will try to coordinate their strategies to address the global economic crisis.

Other CEOs attending the White meeting included those from Citigroup , Fannie Mae , Freddie Mac , Bank of New York/Mellon , Northern Trust , PNC Financial , State Street , Bank of America , Morgan Stanley , USBancorp, American Bankers Association and the Financial Services Roundtable.

© 2009 CNBC