JPM 2Q 2021 results

JPMorgan Chase reported second quarter earnings and earnings that exceeded analysts’ expectations as the company released money set aside for loan losses.

Here’s how the bank did it:

Earnings: $ 3.78 per share, exceeding Refinitiv’s estimate of $ 3.21 per share.

Revenue: $ 31.4 billion, exceeding estimate of $ 29.9 billion.

A key factor is that after the industry set aside tens of billions of dollars for loan losses last year, banks released reserves because borrowers resisted better than expected.

This is what happened at JPMorgan, the largest US bank in terms of assets, in the second quarter. The company posted a profit of $ 2.3 billion by releasing $ 3 billion in loan loss reserves after taking $ 734 million in charges. The bank released $ 5.2 billion in reserves in the first quarter.

Trading revenues were expected to decline from the period a year earlier, which saw frantic activity following Federal Reserve actions aimed at supporting markets at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said last month that while trading revenues would decline from the previous year, the investment bank’s revenue was heading for a 20% increase due to the force of merger fees, he said.

Analysts could ask Dimon about the bank’s succession planning after appointing two senior executives, Marianne Lake and Jennifer Piepszak, to lead the company’s sprawling consumer bank. The changes led to the promotion of Head of Global Research Jeremy Barnum to CFO succeeding Piepszak; this is Barnum’s first quarter for the company’s earnings release.

Dimon could also be asked about his acquisition strategy after making the third purchase of a fintech start-up since December. Last month, the bank agreed to buy the ESG investment platform OpenInvest, CNBC first reported.

JPMorgan shares have climbed 24% so far this year, beating the 17% rise in the S&P 500 index.

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