The largest US bank, JP Morgan Chase, returned to profit in the third quarter although it took a 1.1-billion-dollar hit in legal costs, it said Tuesday.
Its rival Citigroup reported a 6.6-per-cent, year-on-year increase in profits in the same quarter to 3.44 billion dollars, thanks to rises in lending and bond-trading revenues.
It also announced it was closing consumer operations in 11 countries to concentrate on markets with larger growth potential.
New York-based JP Morgan said it earned 5.57 billion dollars in the third quarter after reporting a 380-million-dollar loss in the same period a year earlier. That loss went on the book because of a 7.2-billion-dollar charge for legal costs related to the sale of mortgage-related investment products.
A year ago, JP Morgan agreed to pay 13 billion dollars in fines and damages for its role in the market-wide mortgage bubble speculation that nearly brought the US finance system to its knees in the fall of 2008.
Revenues rose 5 per cent in the third quarter this year to 25.2 billion dollars, the bank said.
At Citigroup, the third-largest US bank, earnings rose to 3.44 billion dollars, bettering analysts’ predictions.
Revenues were up 9.5 per cent to 19.6 billion dollars, the New York-based bank said.
It also said it was pulling its retail banking operations in Japan, South Korea, Costa Rica, the Czech Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, Guatemala, Hungary, Nicaragua, Panama and Peru.
GNA
