Boston, MA 10/14/2013 (wallstreetpr) – JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM), the largest bank in the U.S., has little to celebrate about is third quarter (Q3.13). The bank reported $0.17 per share loss or $380 million. These losses resulted to oversize legal expenses. So what JMP lost was earned by corporate law firms.
JPM has been lately in to a lot of legal challenges against regulatory agencies which have resulted into bitter financial losses. In fact, the banks Q3.13 profits have been wiped out in legal debacles.
The London Whale debacle remains a dark blot in JPM’s books having suffered billions of dollars in losses. Because of this debacle, JPM has agreed to bleed $900 million to settle the fines to UK and US regulators for its unsafe practices which lead to the losses amounting to $6 billion.
In the just released earnings, JPM got $23.9 billion in revenue, against $25.9 billion in revenue for a comparable quarter the previous year. In the second quarter (Q2.13), JPM earned $5.71 billion in profits, equivalent to $1.40 per share. For the same period (Q2.13), the bank has only a head of $600 million in pre-tax litigation expense, however in Q3.13, the bank was scolded with $9.15 billion in pre-tax expenses in connection to litigation.
As far are legal challenges go, the problems facing the JPM are not just about to varnish away. In connection with mortgage market settlements, JPM is seeking a deal in the region of $11 billion with the Justice Department
Were it not for the large legal expenses which the bank go itself into, thus eating a huge chunk of its Q3.13 profits, JPM would have put got money in the hands of its investors. The bank’s CEO Jamie Dimon said the JPM has strong performance across its business operations but such gains were eroded by expanded legal expenses.
As much as these may be painful for the investors, it has not eroded their optimism in the stock. They know that buy spending that big to settle claims against it and pay for representations, the bank was investing into a solid future, albeit, indirectly. This explains why the bank has considered boosting its legal reserve because of the “uncertain” future.
