JPMorgan Chase turns in best first-quarter in US banking history

JPMorgan Chase turned in the highest first-quarter profit in US banking history on Friday, reporting a record net income of $9.18bn for the three months ended 31 March as a solid performance from its business and its consumer arms offset declining trading revenues.

The Dow constituent recorded a first-quarter net income of $2.65 per share, well ahead of the $2.35 expected by analysts. JPM's revenues of $29.1bn were up 5% and also ahead of analysts' estimates.

JPMorgan's consumer and community banking wings were the banks most solid performers throughout the quarter, with rising interest rates helping deliver a 19% increase in net income to $4bn despite home lending revenues falling 11% year-on-year.

On the other side of the coin, the sixth-largest bank in the world's corporate and investment banking arm witnessed an 18% drop in first-quarter profits to $3.3bn, with market revenues falling 17%.

Chief executive Jamie Dimon said: "Investment banking results were strong — particularly in debt underwriting and advisory — as the firm maintained its #1 ranking global investment banking fees and commercial banking generated record gross investment banking revenue.

"As the environment stabilised, the markets business performed solidly, although down from a particularly strong prior-year quarter."

Looking forward, Dimon said that although global geopolitical uncertainties remained, "the US economy continues to grow, employment and wages are going up, inflation is moderate, financial markets are healthy and consumer and business confidence remains strong."

Analysts at RBC Capital Markets conceded that JPM posted "a very strong quarter" as the bank beat its estimates "on almost every front".

"We note that markets revenues performed better than we anticipated, driven by equity trading."

As of 1300 BST, JPMorgan shares had risen 2.56% in pre-market trade to $108.95 each.