JPMorgan Chase saw its profits improve marginally in the third quarter, a notable change after the nation’s largest bank had to set aside billions in the last two quarters to cover losses from the coronavirus pandemic.
The New York-based bank said Tuesday that it earned a profit of $9.44 billion, or $2.92 a share, in the July to September period. That’s up from a profit of $9.08 billion, or $2.68 per share, in the same period a year earlier. The results beat analysts’ expectations for earnings of $2.23 a share, according to FactSet.
The biggest surprise in JPMorgan’s results was the bank’s decision not to set aside any significant funds to cover potentially bad loans. Since the pandemic spread across the U.S. in March, banks like JPMorgan had been setting aside billions to cover loans that once were fine but suddenly were in question due to the economic shutdowns.
JPMorgan had $611 million in loan loss provisions this quarter, a fraction of the $10.47 billion the bank set aside in the second quarter.
JPMorgan is the first of the major banks to report its results this week.