JPMorgan net income falls to $5.4bn JPMorgan Chase reported net income of $5.4bn as the US banking group kicked off first-quarter earnings season with results that were down from last year's $5.6bn but still much better than analysts had forecast. Net revenues rose to $26.7bn in the first three months of the year compared with $25.2bn a year earlier. Earnings of $1.31 a share were slightly higher than last year and beat the $1.17 a share consensus earnings estimate. Jamie Dimon, chief executive, described the results as "solid" in a statement. The results were driven by higher revenues, auguring well for the rest of the Wall Street banks, most of which report next week. The first quarter was marked by the eurozone crisis receding and investment banks benefiting from a better trading environment and a thawing of frozen capital markets activity. Investment banking saw revenues fall 11 per cent year on year to $7.3bn. But that was up 68 per cent from the dire final quarter of last year when the eurozone crisis remained acute and worries rose over the health of the US and Chinese economies. Retail banking improved markedly, with a 40 per cent increase in net revenues to $7.6bn and the mortgage arm turned to profit of $461m after a net loss of $1.1bn in the same quarter last year. JPMorgan acknowledged the impact of a government programme for distressed borrowers, which has driven higher rates of refinancing - boosting revenues. Results were helped by lower pay for investment bankers, with the non-interest expense of $4.7bn - largely made up of salary and bonuses - down 6 per cent from the previous year. Remuneration was 35 per cent of revenues, lower than in previous years. But overall expenses climbed quite sharply from $16bn a year earlier to $18.3bn, dulling the impact of the surging top line. We are pleased that our results for the quarter reflected positive credit trends for our consumer real estate and credit card portfolios. Estimated losses declined for these portfolios, and we reduced the related loan loss reserves by a total of $1.8bn in the first quarter," Mr Dimon said in a statement. However, with respect to our mortgage banking business, we expect to see elevated levels of costs and losses associated with mortgage-related issues for a while longer.