The outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic prompted a sharp reserve building process at the US bank, which has hit its net income sharply, although revenues fell by only 3 per cent in the first quarter.

JP Morgan’s net income slid by 69 per cent in the first quarter of 2020, as the bank had to build reserves and adjust to the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic. The Wall Street-listed bank is the first of the major US financial groups to report first-quarter figures, giving an idea of how severe the virus’s effect will be on earnings.

Net revenue at JP Morgan fell by 3 per cent in Q1 from a year earlier, reaching $29.07 billion. Provision for credit losses skyrocketed (454 per cent) to $8.285 billion. 

Earnings per share, at 0.78 dollars, collapsed by 71 per cent in Q1 from a year before.

Assets at the end of March this year reached $2.2 trillion, up by 7 per cent.

In asset and wealth management, JP Morgan’s chief executive, Jamie Dimon said the bank logged “strong growth in both loans and deposits”.

“The company entered this crisis in a position of strength, and we remain well capitalised and highly liquid - with a CET1 ratio of 11.5 per cent and total liquidity resources of over $1 trillion,” Dimon said. 

“And JP Morgan Chase performed well in what was a very tough and unique operating environment - growing deposits in every line of business and providing loans as we extended credit and served as a port in the storm for our clients and customers. In the first quarter, the underlying results of the company were extremely good. However, given the likelihood of a fairly severe recession, it was necessary to build credit reserves of $6.8 billion, resulting in total credit costs of $8.3 billion for the quarter,” he added.