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March 28, 2024

JPMorgan earns $6.27 billion, but misses estimates

Earns JPMorgan

Mark Lennihan / AP

This Monday, July 13, 2015, photo shows a Chase Bank office tower in New York’s financial center.

NEW YORK — JPMorgan Chase & Co. saw its third-quarter profits rise 22 percent from a year earlier, helped by a significant one-time tax benefit. But the bank's results still missed analysts' expectations as revenue declined in all of its core businesses.

The largest U.S. bank by assets said Tuesday it earned $6.27 billion after payments to preferred shareholders, up from a profit of $5.13 billion a year earlier.

On a per share basis, the bank earned $1.68 per share, compared with $1.35 per share a year earlier.

Removing one-time items, including a $2.2 billion tax benefit from issues related to the financial crisis, JPMorgan said it earned $1.32 a share, which missed analysts' estimates of $1.37 per share.

The turbulent markets over the summer, and a slowing housing market, weighed down JPMorgan's results this quarter. While the bank has been cutting costs through layoffs and other expenses, it wasn't enough to make up for the issues the bank experienced during the quarter.

Revenue in JPMorgan's corporate and investment bank was down 10 percent from a year earlier. While banks' results can get a boost from some measure of market volatility, when markets are highly volatile it can hurt a bank's results.

JPMorgan Chief Financial Officer Marianne Lake said the summer's "generally quite challenging" market conditions led to a decline in revenue in the division. Lower commodity prices also impacted the results.

Lower commodity prices also had another indirect effect on the bank. The bank had to set aside $232 million, partly to cover loans made to some oil and gas companies. Lake said the reserves were in line with the bank's expectations and were "relatively modest."

In JPMorgan's consumer bank, its largest business by revenue and profit, the bank was able to post a 4 percent increase in net income even though revenues fell 4 percent. The decline in revenues was primarily tied to lower mortgage income. Like other banks, JPMorgan has seen flat interest income since the Federal Reserve has kept interest rates near zero.

"We saw the impact of a challenging global environment and continued low rates reflected in the wholesale businesses' results," JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said in a statement.

JPMorgan has been aggressively cutting costs in its Chase consumer bank through layoffs, attrition, branch closures and lower staffing levels. The consumer bank's headcount is down roughly 10,000 workers year-to-date. The bank previously has said it was reducing the number of branches as more customers do business online and through mobile phones.

JPMorgan is the first big bank to release its results this quarter. Bank of America and Wells Fargo report on Wednesday. Goldman Sachs and Citigroup will report on Thursday.

JPMorgan shares were down 1.2 percent to $60.99 in after-market trading.

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