Driven by a lower provision for credit losses, partially offset by lower net revenue, the Card Services unit at JPMorgan Chase & Co. generated fourth-quarter net income of $1.3 billion; it reported a $306 million loss during the same quarter ended Dec. 31 last year, Chase reported Friday.
Revenue was down 17.5%, to $4.25 billion from $5.15 billion. Noninterest revenue was $852 million, down 4% because of “lower revenue from fee-based products,” Chase said in its earnings filing. Net interest income was $3.4 billion, down 20%.
The net charge-off rate for the quarter was 7.85%, down from 9.33% a year earlier and down from 8.87% during the third quarter. The 30-day delinquency rate was 4.07%, down from 6.28% a year earlier and from 4.57% the previous quarter. The 90-day delinquency rate was 2.22%, down from 3.59% a year earlier and from 2.41% the previous quarter.
The provision for credit losses dropped considerably, to $671 million from $4.24 billion. This reflect lower net charge-offs and a reduction of $2 billion to the allowance for loan losses caused by lower estimated losses, Chase said.
End-of-period card loans totaled $137.7 billion, down 16% from a year earlier. Average card loans were $135.6 billion, down 17%.
Sales volume on Chase cards totaled $85.9 billion, up 9% from $78.8 billion. Merchant-processing volume during the quarter was $127.2 billion, up 15.2% from $110.4 billion, on 5.6 million total transaction processed, up 14.3% from 4.9 billion, Chase said.
