JPMorgan Investment-Banking Fees Drop on Underwriting Miss

Core Insights - JPMorgan Chase & Co. experienced an unexpected decline in investment-banking fees in Q4 2025, generating $2.35 billion, a 5% decrease from the previous year, missing the firm's earlier guidance of low single-digit growth [1][4] - The decline in fees was attributed to delayed deal completions and overall performance not meeting expectations, as stated by CFO Jeremy Barnum [2] - Despite the drop in investment-banking fees, JPMorgan reported strong trading revenue of $8.24 billion in Q4, surpassing analyst estimates and contributing to record full-year revenue for the trading business [5] Investment Banking Performance - The investment-banking results were negatively impacted by a surprising 2% decline in debt-underwriting fees, while analysts had anticipated a 19% increase [5] - The firm had previously projected a modest growth in investment-banking fees, indicating a significant deviation from expectations [1] Overall Financial Performance - JPMorgan reported a net income of $57 billion for 2025, falling short of its record profit from 2024, which was the highest in American banking history [4] - The bank expects to earn approximately $103 billion in net interest income for the current year, exceeding analyst expectations, reflecting resilience in the U.S. economy [3]