JPMorganChase’s profits climb on investment banking surge

• Key insight: JPMorganChase’s bottom line grew in the first three months of the year, as the bank’s markets business boomed in the first quarter.
• Supporting data: The company reeled in record markets revenue of $11.6 billion, a 20% rise from the prior quarter.
• Expert quote: “There is an increasingly complex set of risks.” — CEO Jamie Dimon

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JPMorganChase saw profits climb in the first quarter of 2026, as strong investment banking activity lifted earnings.

While the war in Iran raised concerns about the economic landscape, the overall environment also stirred up the $4.9 trillion-asset bank’s bread-and-butter business on Wall Street, where investment banking fees surged 23% from the prior quarter.

JPMorgan announced Tuesday that its bottom line climbed more than 27% in the first three months of 2026, to $16.5 billion, as community and commercial banking performance also ticked up.

CEO Jamie Dimon said in a prepared statement that several tailwinds were helping the American economy, including fiscal stimulus, the benefits of deregulation, AI-driven capital investment and the Fed’s asset purchases. But he added the bank is still preparing for possible risks.

“The U.S. economy remained resilient in the quarter, with consumers still earning and spending and businesses still healthy,” Dimon said. “At the same time, there is an increasingly complex set of risks — such as geopolitical tensions and wars, energy price volatility, trade uncertainty, large global fiscal deficits and elevated asset prices.”

The bank brought in $5.94 per diluted share in the first quarter, compared to $5.07 a year ago , handily beating consensus analyst estimates of $5.46. JPMorgan reeled in $50 billion of revenue, a 9% increase from $45 billion a year ago. Markets revenue of $11.6 billion was up 20%, and marked a new record, Dimon said.

Net interest income excluding markets was $23.3 billion, up 3%, driven by higher deposit balances, as well as higher revolving balances in cards, though was offset mainly by the impact of lower rates.

Some of JPMorgan’s major increases in performance can be attributed to a one-time offset from the prior quarter. At the end of last year, the bank’s results had taken a hit due to a $2.2 billion provision for credit loss related to its acquisition of Apple’s $20 billion portfolio of credit card offerings from Goldman Sachs.

The company’s payments business grew by double digits in deposits and fees, while the consumer and community banking business revenue rose 7%.

“We continued to acquire new customers at a robust rate across the franchise, including achieving record net inflows in self-directed investing and opening more than 450,000 net new checking accounts,” Dimon said.

In the first quarter, JPMorgan’s total provision for credit losses was $2.5 billion, down 46% from the prior quarter, and 24% from the prior year.

Expenses were up $27 billion in the quarter, or 14%, due to higher revenue-related compensation and growth in front office workforce, as well as higher brokerage expenses, higher marketing expenses and auto lease depreciation.

Net charge-offs were $2.3 billion, down $16 million from the prior quarter.

The bank also estimates it has some $572 billion of loss-absorbing capital, and a CET1 ratio of 14.3%. Dimon also said that regulators’ recent Basel III proposal “mitigated the most severe consequences of the 2023 proposals,” but “there are still aspects of the proposed rules that need to be addressed.”

In his annual letter to shareholders, released last week, Dimon called parts of the proposal “frankly nonsensical,” such as the new surcharge pitch for global systemically important banks, or G-SIB.

Under the new proposal, JPMorgan’s surcharge would drop to about 5%, which Dimon said would mean that the bank would have to hold as much as 50% more capital across most of its loans to U.S. consumers and businesses compared to non-too-big-to-fail banks.

“We hope that regulators prioritize well-designed regulation and address these aspects of the proposed rules to allow banks of all sizes to deploy their resources to support the real economy,” Dimon said in the company’s Tuesday release.

The bank held its full-year outlook for 2026 stable, expecting $103 billion of net interest income, $95 billion of net interest income excluding markets, $105 billion of expenses and a card services net charge-off rate of about 3.4%.

JPMorgan’s stock price is down over 3% for the year, compared with the roughly 1.8% rise this year of the KBW Nasdaq Bank Index.