JP Morgan and Citi quarterly profit helped by higher rates

Profits at two of the biggest US banks jumped in the first quarter, buoyed by higher interest rates.

Increased banking and trading activity helped lift profits at JP Morgan Chase 17% from the same period in 2016, the bank said. Profits were $6.45bn (£5.1bn).

Citigroup's first-quarter profit also gained 17% to $4.1bn on revenue gains from institutional clients.

Citi's revenue was 3% up on 2016 to $18.1bn.

Both reports beat analyst expectations.

JP Morgan chief executive, Jamie Dimon, said the background to the results was healthy: "US consumers and businesses are healthy overall and with pro-growth initiatives and improving collaboration between government and business, the US economy can continue to improve."

Chief executive, Michael Corbat, saw a similar picture: "The momentum we saw across many of our businesses towards the end of last year carried into the first quarter, resulting in significantly better overall performance than a year ago."

Stable

At JP Morgan, troubles at the consumer and community banking unit were offset by record revenues from commercial banking.

The firm's revenue increased to $24.7bn, up 6% from a year ago.

Provisions for credit losses fell 28% to $1.3bn. Last year, trouble in the oil and gas industry hurt results.

Separately Wells Fargo, which has been working to contain fallout from a scandal related to fake consumer accounts, said it earned $5.5bn in the first quarter, largely unchanged from a year ago.