Kicking off the earnings season for banks in the U.S. for the second quarter, JPMorgan Chase & Co reported an increase in profit that was better than had been expected on Tuesday, boosted by a drop in its restructuring and legal expenses and a tax bill that was smaller.
Like other financial institutes, the biggest lender in the U.S. by assets has come under heavy pressure to cuts its expenses because of low rates of interest that have weighed on its revenue for much longer than had been expected.
Regulators are also demanding that the banks hold additional capital and hire more staff to control the risks and comply with the new regulations.
The bank paid a 25% effective tax rate, which was down from its 30% during the same quarter in 2014. Its tax bill also down by 13% to just over $2.81 billion.
That in turn helped attributable net income to shareholders increase to just over $5.78 billion equal to $1.54 a share, from its $5.57 billion equal to $14.6 a share for the same period one year earlier.
Analysts were expecting earnings to be $1.44 a share, but net revenue was down 3.2% to just over $24.52 billion, largely due to a drop in revenue from fixed income trading and mortgage banking.
Revenue from the fixed income segment of the bank dropped by 21% to just over $2.93 billion.
A number of banks are expected to report results from bond trading that are underwhelming due to a downturn in June of the bond trading markets.
Investor worries carried across the globe during this past quarter, ranging from the debt crisis in Greece to concerns that the Federal Reserve in the U.S. would not raise the interest rates in 2015.
JPMorgan said its return on its tangle common equity, which is a key gauge for profit performance, was unchanged from the same period one year ago at 14%.
