JPMorgan CEO: We ended the year with a solid quarter

Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO, commented: “We ended the year with a solid quarter, producing net income of $9.3 billion, or $12.1 billion excluding the FDIC special assessment and discretionary securities losses. Our record results in 2023 reflect over-earning on both NII and credit, but we remain confident in our ability to continue to deliver very healthy returns even after they normalize. Our balance sheet remained extremely strong, with a CET1 ratio of 15.0%, a staggering $514 billion of total loss-absorbing capacity and $1.4 trillion in cash and marketable securities. We continue to believe that the recent series of regulatory and legislative proposals, including Basel III endgame, could cause serious harm to consumers, businesses, and markets. We hope that regulators will make the necessary adjustments so the rules promote a strong financial system without causing undue consequences for end users. 2023 was a good example of the power of our investment philosophy and fortress principles, as well as the value of being there for clients-as we always are-in both good times and bad times. The result was continued growth broadly across the Firm. We will highlight a few examples: CCB added over 2 million net new checking accounts in 2023; CIB maintained its #1 rank in both IB and Markets and gained over 100bps of IB market share; CB added over 5,000 new relationships, roughly 2x the prior year; and AWM saw record client asset net inflows of $490 billion, over 20% higher than its prior record. The U.S. economy continues to be resilient, with consumers still spending, and markets currently expect a soft landing. It is important to note that the economy is being fueled by large amounts of government deficit spending and past stimulus. There is also an ongoing need for increased spending due to the green economy, the restructuring of global supply chains, higher military spending and rising healthcare costs. This may lead inflation to be stickier and rates to be higher than markets expect. On top of this, there are a number of downside risks to watch. Quantitative tightening is draining over $900 billion of liquidity from the system annually, and we have never seen a full cycle of tightening. And the ongoing wars in Ukraine and the Middle East have the potential to disrupt energy and food markets, migration, and military and economic relationships, in addition to their dreadful human cost. These significant and somewhat unprecedented forces cause us to remain cautious. While we hope for the best, the past year demonstrated why we must be prepared for any environment. To conclude, I want to thank our tremendous employees for making us one of the most trusted financial institutions in the world. They work tirelessly to serve our clients, including extending credit and raising capital totaling $2.3 trillion, as well as providing continuity for First Republic customers.”