JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM) Q4 2018 Earnings Conference Call Transcript
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JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM)
Q4 2018 Earnings Conference Call
Jan. 15, 2019, 8:30 a.m. ET

Contents:

  • Prepared Remarks

  • Questions and Answers

  • Call Participants

Prepared Remarks:

Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to JPMorgan Chase's Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2018 Earnings Call. This call is being recorded. Your line will be muted for the duration of the call. We will now go live to the presentation. Please standby.

At this time, I would like to turn the call over to JPMorgan Chase's Chairman and CEO, Jamie Dimon; and Chief Financial Officer, Marianne Lake. Ms. Lake, please go ahead.

Marianne Lake -- Chief Financial Officer

Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone. I'm going to take you through the earnings presentation which is available on our website. Please refer to the disclaimer at the back of the presentation.

Starting on page one. The firm reported fourth quarter net income of $7.1 billion and EPS of $1.98, on revenue of nearly $27 billion, with a return on tangible common equity of 14%. Market impacts aside, underlying business drivers remain solid, including core loan and deposit growth, consumer sentiment and spending in a robust holiday season, capital market activity and with credit performance continuing to be very strong across businesses. For the full year 2018, the firm reported revenue of $111.5 billion and net income of $32.5 billion, both clear records even adjusting for the impact of tax reform, and so we're entering 2019 with good momentum across our businesses.

Turning to page two and some more detail about our fourth quarter results. Revenue of $26.8 billion was up $1.1 billion or 4% year-on-year driven by net interest income. NII was up $1.2 billion or 9% on higher rates and on loan and deposit growth. Non-interest revenue was down slightly with lower market levels impacting asset wealth management fees and private equity losses being offset by higher card fees and auto lease growth in CCB. Expense of $15.7 billion was up 6% year-on-year. The increase relates to investments we're making in technology, marketing, real estate and front office, as well as revenue related costs, including growth in auto. This was partially offset by a reduction in FDIC fees. As we had hoped, the incremental surcharge was eliminated effective at the end of the third quarter. And this is a benefit of a little over $200 million for the quarter across our businesses.

Credit trends remain favorable across both Consumer and Wholesale. Credit cost of $1.5 billion were up $240 million year-on-year driven by changes in reserves. In Consumer, we built reserves of $150 million in card on loan growth. In Wholesale, over the last several quarters, we have seen net reserve releases and recoveries. However, this quarter we had about $200 million of credit costs. The gain largely reserve builds on select C&I client downgrades driven by a handful of names across multiple sectors. While we are constantly looking at a granular level foreshadows, these downgrades are idiosyncratic and do not reflect signs of deterioration in our portfolios. The outlook for credit as we see it, remains positive.