Financial Results
Private Bank Revenues At JP Morgan Rose In Fourth Quarter

JP Morgan said today its revenues from private banking rose by 18 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2010 to $1.4 billion, while the overall US banking and wealth management giant logged a net income of $4.8 billion, surging by 47 per cent year-on-year.
The bank’s statement, which kicks off a number of fourth-quarter reports by banking groups in the US and elsewhere in the next few weeks, gave few other figures for performance of the private bank, however.
The bank said its group net income performance was built on the back of $26.7 billion of fourth-quarter revenue.
According to Bloomberg, the rise in JP Morgan's net income of 47 per cent exceeded analysts' forecasts.
“We continued to strengthen our fortress balance sheet, ending the year with a strong Tier 1 Common ratio of 9.8 per cent. By 2019, banks will be expected to maintain a Tier 1 Common ratio of 7 per cent under Basel III – we estimate that our ratio is approximately 7 per cent this quarter,” said chief executive Jamie Dimon, referring to the latest instalment of Basel bank capital regulations that are coming into force.
“Our total firmwide credit reserves declined to $33.0 billion, resulting in a firmwide coverage ratio of 4.5 per cent of total loans. We are confident that we have the earnings power to generate substantial capital, well beyond what we will need to prudently grow our business,” Dimon said.
On the investment banking side of JP Morgan, net income fell by 21 per cent year-on-year to $1.5 billion, up 17 per cent compared with the prior quarter. In asset management, the firm said net income was $507 million, an increase of $83 million, or 20 per cent, from the prior year. Total assets under management in this business division were $1.3 trillion at the end of 2010, an increase of $49 billion, or 4 per cent, on the year before.