Reuters
- JPMorgan reported first-quarter earnings on Friday that were ahead of Wall Street's expectations.
- The banking giant grew revenue by 9% and net income by 6%.
- CEO Jamie Dimon, however, rang the alarm on geopolitical and economic challenges.
JPMorgan reported first-quarter earnings on Friday that surpassed Wall Street's expectations, as CEO Jamie Dimon rang the alarm once again on a troublesome geopolitical and economic backdrop.
America's biggest bank posted a 9% year-on-year rise in revenue to $41.9 billion, which helped to drive its net income up 6% to $13.4 billion. Earnings per share were $4.44, ahead of AlphaSense's consensus estimate of $4.14.
JPMorgan's bottom line benefited from a 17% decrease in its provision for credit losses — the money it sets aside to cover potential loan defaults — to $1.9 billion.
The firm reported higher net revenues across its consumer and community banking (CCB), commercial banking (CB), corporate, and asset and wealth management (AWM) divisions. Net revenues were flat in its corporate and investment bank (CIB).
Net income slid 8% in CCB and 6% in AWM, but rose 8% in the CIB segment, 39% in the CB business, and 177% in the corporate segment.
JPMorgan's takeover of First Republic last year significantly impacted its earnings. For example, its home lending revenues rose 65% to $1.2 billion on a headline basis, but only 10% excluding the regional bank that ran into problems last spring.
Dimon hailed JPMorgan's strong performance in the earnings release, but also issued a stark caution about the current global backdrop.
"We remain alert to a number of significant uncertain forces," the banking boss said. "First, the global landscape is unsettling – terrible wars and violence continue to cause suffering, and geopolitical tensions are growing."
"Second, there seems to be a large number of persistent inflationary pressures, which may likely continue. And finally, we have never truly experienced the full effect of quantitative tightening on this scale."
In his annual letter to JPMorgan shareholders, Dimon voiced similar concerns, published earlier this week. In it, he warned about wars raging and international tensions rising, and cautioned investors may be too complacent about the threats posed by inflation, interest rates, and recession.