JP MORGAN REPORTS BUMPER EARNINGS
The bank unveiled bumper revenues yesterday of $27.7bn (£16.9bn) in the three months to the end of June, thanks in part to strong investment banking revenues.
Earnings rose to $2.7bn in the quarter, from $2bn a year earlier.
The bank’s strong performance came just days after rival Goldman Sachs said its profits were up 64 per cent in the quarter.
The firm’s investment banking arm made $7.3bn thanks to stellar gains by fixed-income traders and a 29 per cent boost in investment banking fees.
JPMorgan, which last month paid off $25bn of US government aid from the Troubled Asset Relief Programme, also added $1.8bn to its credit reserves, taking them to $30bn.
But chief executive Jamie Dimon doubled bad loans provisions of $9.7bn. He stopped short of heralding an end to the bank’s woes, warning rising unemployment will boost credit losses this year and next. And he warned of higher losses on the firm’s commercial real estate books for several quarters.
Credit card operations at the bank lost $672m over the period and it hiked the projected loss rate on the cards to 10 per cent for the current quarter. The bank also warned of further consumer loan defaults in the form of a 24 per cent loss from its retail bank Washington Mutual, by the end of the year.
Dimon last night hit out at US government plans that will constrain credit card lenders’ ability to raise rates for sub-prime borrowers, calling the wave of new rules “fast and furious”. He said the regulations will cost the firm as much as $700m next year.
Some said his robust comments signalled greater confidence among bankers in their dealings with regulators. Today sees results from Bank of America and Citigroup.