Nikki Haley, Jamie Dimon in secret talks over US financial future: report

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has been quietly holding private meetings with Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, with discussions primarily surrounding the global economy, according to a top banking source who spoke with Axios. The report additionally claims that it is Dimon's belief that Haley could bring the country together. 

Such discussions could suggest a surging establishment enthusiasm for Haley, who formerly served as an ambassador for the United Nations in addition to having been the governor of South Carolina. Haley notably tied with Florida Gov. and fellow GOP candidate Ron DeSantis in a poll conducted by Emerson College in October.

Axios reported that Dimon is fond of Haley's grasp of the economy, and her views on how business and government can work together to create economic growth.

Dimon notably had his name pop up in a lawsuit pertaining to disgraced pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, with the JPMorgan Chase chief executive denying at a deposition that he had ever met with him, exchanged emails with him, or ever discussed his longstanding accounts with the bank internally.

JPMorgan Chase, the largest US bank, had been sued by the US Virgin Islands and several women who have said they were victims of Epstein, and are seeking damages as a result.

A report from the Wall Street Journal said that numerous senior bankers from Chase had met with Epstein after 2013, years after he had been convicted of procuring child prostitution in Florida in 2008.

JPMorgan Chase has said in an official statement on the matter that "In hindsight, any association with (Epstein) was a mistake" but that "these suits are misdirected as we did not help him commit his heinous crimes."

Haley's campaign has not commented on the alleged conversations she and Dimon have had, per Axios.