[ by Melanie Gretchen ]

JPMorgan may have set a new high.

As New Jersey continued to recover in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, JPMorgan stepped in to handle a new $2.6 billion New Jersey bond sale by offering to do it for free.  All told, 30 deaths were attributed to the storm, which is expected to cost the state billions of dollars in insured damage across the metropolitan area.

Matt Zames, a co-COO at JPMorgan Chase, and JPMorgan Chase public finance head Paul Palmeri, thought up the idea of not charging any fees as the state attempts to recover from the devastation wrought by the storm. The note sale, which was postponed last week because of the storm, is expected to be priced next week, according a spokesman for the New Jersey Department of Treasury.  The sale will be used to satisfy a $2.1 billion line of credit with Bank of America Corp. and other cash flow needs

"I don’t know of any precedent for this." -- John Mousseau, a managing director for Cumberland Advisors.

For further details, go to [WSJ, 11/6/12].