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3 US banks post higher profits with huge assist from tax law
NEW YORK (AP) ‐ Three of America’s biggest banks reported higher profits Friday, with a huge assist from the tax law passed late last year.

JPMorgan reported a record quarterly profit, while Citigroup and Wells Fargo topped analyst expectations.

Banks are expected to be major beneficiaries of the tax overhaul, which sharply lowered corporate tax rates. Comparing each of the effective tax rates from last year to this year, the three Wall Street banks that reported earnings Friday appeared to have saved roughly $1.6 billion altogether.

The first-quarter earnings season will give investors and the public their first good look into how President Trump’s tax law is impacting Corporate America. Publicly traded banks are the first major industry to report their results each quarter.

Net income at JPMorgan Chase, the nation’s largest bank by assets and deposits, rose 35 percent to $8.71 billion. The result was primarily driven by two factors: higher interest rates, which have allowed banks such as JPMorgan to charge more for customers to borrow, and the lower corporate tax rate.

However, JPMorgan had to set aside more money to cover bad loans in its consumer bank, where delinquencies have been steadily edging higher. JPMorgan shares fell 2.7 percent, while shares of Wells Fargo slipped 3.4 percent and Citigroup shares dropped 1.6 percent.

While JPMorgan’s pretax income rose by $2 billion in the quarter, the company said it effectively paid $240 million less in taxes compared to a year earlier. The bank paid an effective tax rate of 18.3 percent in the quarter, compared with a rate of 22.7 percent a year earlier. Before the changes to tax law, JPMorgan’s effective tax rate averaged in the high 20-percent range.
Posted by: Besoeker 2018-04-14
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=512422