As is customary, the US-listed group started the quarterly financial reporting season.

JP Morgan kicked off the fourth quarter of the 2023 reporting season by announcing that net income in its asset and wealth management arm – including its private bank – rose 7 per cent year-on-year to $1.217 billion. Net revenue in the AWM business rose 11 per cent to $5.095 billion.

Last year, JP Morgan bought crisis-hit First Republic (one of several banks, such as Silicon Valley Bank) that was hit by the impact of rising interest rates, among other factors. When the First Republic acquisition is taken out, net revenue rose 2 per cent on a year ago, the US bank said in a statement on Friday. 

Revenue rose on the back of higher management fees resulting from strong net inflows and higher average market levels, although lower net interest income offset some of that impact. On the cost side of the equation, noninterest rose 12 per cent, or 11 per cent excluding the First Republic deal, driven by higher compensation, growth in private banker advisor teams, and the effect of closing the JP Morgan Asset Management China acquisition. 

Total assets under management stood at $3.4 trillion; total client assets were $5 trillion at the end of December 2023, each rising 24 per cent.

Across the JP Morgan business, covering all divisions, net income fell 15 per cent on a year ago in Q4 2023, to $9.307 billion. Net revenue rose 12 per cent to $38.574 billion, the firm said.

At the end of December JP Morgan had a Common Equity Tier 1 ratio – a standard measure of a bank’s capital buffer – of 15 per cent on an advanced basis. The bank had a return on common equity of 12 per cent, down from 16 per cent a year earlier.