Investment banking fees boost JP Morgan Chase

BANKING heavyweight JP Morgan Chase yesterday reported a 67 per cent jump in first-quarter profits on solid growth in investment banking fees and a drop in losses from credit cards.

The second-largest US bank also set aside less money to cover bad loans during the period but the news was not all positive and it said it was still suffering from high mortgage losses.

The New York-headquartered firm revealed that it earned $5.6 billion (3.4bn) compared with $3.3bn in the same period last year, beating Wall Street forecasts.

JPMorgan is the first of the big US banks to post quarterly results, and its earnings often give investors a hint of what to expect from other financial companies.

Investment banking revenue fell to $8.2bn from $8.3bn previously but much of the firm's overall profits were generated from a 23 per cent increase in investment banking fees to $1.8bn.

That included record debt underwriting fees of $971m, up 33 per cent on the same period last year.