By Lisa Valentine

J.P. Morgan Chase has more than 220,000 employees, more than 100 million customers and operates in almost 100 countries. And if J.P. Morgan Chase’s chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon says that “some unforeseen circumstance should put this firm at risk of collapse,” the government should step back and let the mega bank fail.

Dimon makes it clear that he is against setting size limits to financial firms, arguing that the large economies of scale of big firms has benefits for shareholders, consumers, and the economy and that proper regulation can wind down even the largest financial institution in a safe and effective manner.

In his op-ed in the Washington Post, Dimon states that it’s not the size of a firm that is dangerous, but its interconnectedness. Limiting size would have little impact –the failure of a small yet interconnected firm could still cause a devastating ripple effect to the economy a la the subset of AIG.

Let J.P. Morgan Chase get as big as it needs to be. If it is a well-run firm that doesn’t take ridiculous risks, why should the government limit how big the firm is? The regulators should be smart enough to recognize risk is not based on asset size but is based on business model and risk management self-discipline.