A customer uses a JPMorgan Chase & Co. automatic teller machine (ATM) outside a bank branch in Miami, Florida, on Thursday, Jan. 5, 2017.
Scott McIntyre | Bloomberg | Getty Images
JPMorgan is building its credit reserves in anticipation that people might not be able to pay their bills, especially for credit cards. The bank’s first quarter earnings statement showed its credit reserves increased by $6.8 billion from the prior year, 56% of which was set aside for its consumer card division.
“In the first quarter, the underlying results of the company were extremely good, however given the likelihood of a fairly severe recession, it was necessary to build credit reserves of $6.8B, resulting in total credit costs of $8.3B for the quarter,” CEO Jamie Dimon said in the earnings release.
Of the $6.8 billion, more than half — or $3.8 billion — is earmarked for the bank’s Card division. In total $4.4 billion is allocated for consumer finance, with the remaining $2.4 billion for the bank’s wholesale business. JPMorgan noted that the largest impacts would likely be felt in the oil and gas, real estate, and consumer and retail industries.
As of March 31 the allowance for credit losses in the bank’s Card unit stood at $15 billion, which is more than half of the bank’s firmwide reserves of $25.4 billion.
The firm cited the “deterioration in the macro-economic environment” caused by the coronavirus pandemic as the primary reason for beefing up its reserves.
For the quarter JPMorgan posted earnings per share earnings of 78 cents, a figure that missed analysts’ $1.84 estimate. JPMorgan’s profit of $2.87 billion plunged 69% from a year earlier, driven mostly by the credit provisions, while revenue proved to be more resilient, slipping 3% from a year earlier to $29.07 billion.
– CNBC’s Hugh Son contributed reporting.
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