Fraud, scam cases increasing on Zelle, Senate report finds
Incidents of fraud and scams are occurring more often on the popular peer-to-peer payment service Zelle, according to a report issued Monday by the office of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, giving the public its first glimpse into the growing problems at Zelle.
Bank CEOs questioned on consumer protections, social issues
The CEOs of the nation’s biggest banks returned to Capitol Hill for a second day Thursday, and Senate Democrats strongly urged them to do more to help and protect their customers, while Republicans questioned whether banks should weigh in on hot-button social issues.
JPMorgan 1Q profit up sharply, helped by improving economy
JPMorgan Chase saw its first quarter profits jump nearly five fold from a year earlier, as the improving economy allowed the bank to release roughly $5 billion from its loan-loss reserves that it had stored away in the early weeks of the pandemic.
Optimistic banks start moving 'bad' loans back to 'good'
(AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The pandemic and recession aren’t over by a long shot, but banks are feeling optimistic enough to start taking potentially “bad” loans off their books and move them back into the “good” pile. Citigroup had a similar story, releasing $1.5 billion of its loan-loss reserves that it had set aside earlier last year. Still, those amounts are just a fraction of the tens of billions of dollars into their so-called loan-loss reserves to cover potentially bad loans in the first months of the pandemic. In releasing funds from loan-loss reserves, the banks cited the improvement in the economy. JPMorgan still has more than $30 billion tied up in its loan-loss reserves, and banks like Citi and Wells have similar figures on their balance sheets.
JPMorgan's profits jump as economy, investment bank recovers
JPMorgan Chase & Co., the nations largest bank by assets, said its fourth quarter profits jumped by 42% from a year earlier, as the firms investment bank division had a stellar quarter and the banks balance sheet improved despite the pandemic. Excluding one-time items, the bank earned $3.07 a share, which is well above the $2.62 per share forecast analysts had for the bank. Banks had set aside tens of billions of dollars to cover potentially bad loans, and JPMorgan had been particularly aggressive in setting aside funds early in the pandemic. The driver of JPMorgan's profits this quarter was the investment banking business. The corporate and investment bank posted a profit of $5.35 billion compared with $2.94 billion in the same period a year earlier.
Bid to address health costs by 3 corporate giants is over
A health care venture created in 2018 by the three corporate giants to attack soaring care costs will shutter only a couple years after launching. (AP Photos, File)INDIANAPOLIS – A health care venture conceived by Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan to attack soaring costs is dissolving. Haven, which was formed in 2018 by the three U.S. corporate giants, will cease operations by the end of February, a company spokeswoman said Monday. Health care costs have grown faster than wages and inflation for years, stressing families and employers. It started new designs for health care benefits that eliminated patient out-of-pocket payments like deductibles and coinsurance and encouraged access to primary care.
Bank profits remain resilient despite lingering pandemic
In the early months of the U.S. pandemic, banks set aside tens of billions of dollars to cover losses that could come from loans that were suddenly going bad. On top of the stimulus, banks entered into this pandemic the healthiest they’ve been in years and certainly healthier than they were before the financial crisis of 2008. JPMorgan set aside $611 million to cover potentially bad loans in the third quarter, a fraction of the $10.47 billion the bank set aside to cover bad loans in the second quarter. On Wednesday, Bank of America said it set aside $1.4 billion to cover potentially bad loans, far less than the $5.1 billion it set aside three months earlier. Most of the worry seems to reflect investors' uncertainty about whether banks will have to set aside additional billions in the future.
JPMorgan, Citi profits improve amid signs of recovery
Both Citi and JPMorgan set aside fewer funds to cover potentially bad loans, contributing to the improvement in their third-quarter results. JPMorgan had $611 million in loan loss provisions this quarter, a fraction of the $10.47 billion the bank set aside in the second quarter. Meanwhile Citigroup’s provision for credit losses was $2.26 billion in the third quarter compared to $7.9 billion the quarter before. Citi said its third-quarter net income fell to $3.23 billion from $4.91 billion a year earlier. JPMorgan and Citi were the first of the major banks to report its results this week.
JPMorgan puts $30B toward fixing banking's 'systemic racism'
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – JPMorgan Chase said Thursday it will extend billions in loans to Black and Latino homebuyers and small business owners in an expanded effort toward fixing what the bank calls “systemic racism” in the country’s economic system. “Systemic racism is a tragic part of America’s history,” said JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon in a statement. Citigroup announced last month it is committing $1 billion toward closing “the racial wealth gap” in the United States, including $550 million toward homeownership programs for racial minorities. He noted that there’s a 30% gap between Black and white homeownership, amounting to about 4.5 million households. JPMorgan was one of 27 major New York-based companies that joined a program to recruit 100,000 workers from the city's low-income, predominately Black, Latino and Asian communities over the next 10 years.
Citi picks Jane Fraser as next CEO, first woman in that role
NEW YORK Citigroup announced that Jane Fraser would succeed Michael Corbat as the bank's next chief executive, making Fraser the first woman to ever lead a Wall Street bank. Fraser is currently head of Citi's global consumer banking division, a major part of the bank that includes checking and savings accounts but also Citi's massive credit card business. Fraser will be the first woman to lead one of Wall Street's big six banks. JPMorgan Chase's Jamie Dimon has had women as his second-in-command for years, but shows no signs of stepping down from the CEO role. Corbat turned Citi into a much smaller and stable entity, focusing on its credit card businesses and its international banking franchise.
Banks set aside billions, bracing for more economic pain
Thanks largely to the funds set aside for bad loans, JPMorgan's profit fell by half in the April-June quarter, Citigroup's sank about 70% and Wells Fargo reported its first quarterly loss since the financial crisis of 2008. In its second-quarter results, JPMorgan said it set aside $10.5 billion to cover potentially bad loans. Thats on top of the $8.3 billion the bank set aside in April, when the pandemic was only just starting to impact the U.S. economy. Citi, which is heavily exposed in credit cards, set aside an additional $7.9 billion to cover potentially bad loans. Wells Fargo, which did not set aside as much money as its peers in April, had to play catch up this quarter, setting aside $8.4 billion to cover potentially bad loans.