JP Morgan Beats the Street, Earns $3.6bn

JP Morgan Chase (JPM: 42.46 -0.21%) earned nearly $3.6bn in Q309, or $0.82 per share, up from more than $2.7bn in Q209 $527m in Q308.

According to analysts at the Royal Bank of Scotland, Wall Street expected JP Morgan to announce at $0.51 per share.

Bank-wide revenue was $28.8bn, a record year-to-date revenue for the banking giant. But JP Morgan said credit costs remain high, particularly in the consumer lending and card services loan portfolios, and it added $2bn to its consumer credit reserves, bringing its total credit reserves to $31.5bn, or 5.3% of total loans.

“While we are seeing some initial signs of consumer credit stability, we are not yet certain that this trend will continue,” JP Morgan Chase chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon said. “Despite this near-term uncertainty about the path of the economy, our strong capital position and underlying earnings power will enable us to continue to invest in our businesses, creating a lasting franchise for many years to come.”

JP Morgan Chase approved 262,000 new trial modifications between the Making Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) and its own modification program, resulting in lowered payments for 90% of borrowers with modified mortgages.

In the bank’s retail financial services (RFS) division, net income was $7m, down from $57m in Q208 and $15m from Q209, due to a decrease in mortgage origination revenue, an increase in the provision for credit losses, higher non interest expense and lower loan balances, JP Morgan said.

Subprime mortgage net charge-offs were $422m, compared with $273m in the prior year. Prime mortgage net charge-offs were $525m, compared with $177m in the prior year.

Write to Austin Kilgore.