13 Jul 2013

Jump in profits at JP Morgan and Wells Fargo

7:17 am on 13 July 2013

JP Morgan and Wells Fargo reported strong rises in profits on Friday for the second quarter of the year.

JP Morgan recorded a profit of $US6.5 billion, up 31% from a year ago.

The BBC reports it is regarded as a bellwether for the health of banking industry.

Separately, Wells Fargo reported a 20% rise in quarterly profits to $US5.27 billion as it set aside less money for bad loans. Revenue was little changed at $21.4 billion.

Provision for bad loans fell 64% to $US652 million.

Net revenues at JP Morgan's retail bank were slightly down from a year ago, but rose 10% at its investment bank, and also rose at its asset management unit.

The figures are the first the bank has posted since chairman and chief executive Jamie Dimon overwhelmingly won a shareholder referendum in May on whether he should hold both posts.

In a statement, he said the results showed a "strong performance across our businesses".