Even as profits surged, the board of JPMorgan Chase cut the pay of chief executive Jamie Dimon by 50 percent, in light of a multi-billion dollar trading loss last year.

By the overall numbers, it was a good year for JPMorgan. The bank reported a record profit of $5.7 billion for the fourth quarter, up 53 percent from 2011. Revenues, too, were strong, rising 10 percent to $23.7 billion for the period.