Yahoo Finance JPMorgan CEO Dimon: Tax reform is a 'significant positive outcome for the country'
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon plans to invest further as a result of corporate tax reform.
“The enactment of tax reform in the fourth quarter is a significant positive outcome for the country,” Dimon said in a statement for the bank’s fourth-quarter earnings release.
“U.S. companies will be more competitive globally, which will ultimately benefit all Americans,” Dimon continued. “The cumulative effect of retained and reinvested capital in the U.S. will help grow the economy, ultimately growing jobs and wages. We have always invested, even in difficult times, in our employees, customers and communities, and as a result of the tax plan we will be increasing and accelerating some of these investments.”
Beyond the statement, there were no further details about what those investments might look like.
During the fourth quarter, JPMorgan said it had incurred a one-time write-down of $2.4 billion, or 69 cents per share, because of tax reform. The bank had been seen taking a $2 billion charge. Tax reform is expected to be a positive for the banks going forward.
JPMorgan expects to see an effective tax rate of about 19% in 2018.
Kicking off earnings season for the big banks, JPMorgan, the largest U.S. bank by assets, reported adjusted earnings per share of $1.76 versus analysts’ estimates of $1.69 per share. Revenue for the fourth quarter came in at $25.45 billion slightly below analysts’ estimates of $25.5 billion.
Breaking it down further, revenue from FICC trading came in at $2.22 billion, down 34% compared to the same period a year ago.
Revenue from equity sales and trading came in at $1.15 billion, which was flat compared to a year ago. The bank noted that it incurred a mark-to-market loss of $143 million on a margin loan to a single client. On the conference call, the bank confirmed that client was Steinhoff International Holdings, the South African-based retailer that’s embroiled in an accounting scandal.
The bank posted $1.64 billion in revenues from investment banking, missing estimates of $1.66 billion.
The bank said that tax reform should be a “positive for M&A and ECM, negative for DCM – overall net positive.”
Shares of JPMorgan were last trading slightly higher in the pre-market.
Julia La Roche is a finance reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter.
