How the company works
What it sells, how it makes money, and the anatomy of the extremes: what has to break for the result to land far from the forecast, either way. In JPMorgan Chase's own words, from its annual report for 2025.
JPMorganChase takes deposits from consumers and companies and lends and invests them, and sells the services around money: card and payments, investment banking, trading, and managing other people's assets.
How it makes money
Two halves of about equal size. Net interest income, $95.4B in 2025, is what the firm earns on $1.49 trillion of loans and its securities above what it pays on $2.56 trillion of deposits and other funding. Noninterest revenue, $87.0B, is fees: card and payments, investment banking, trading for clients, and asset and wealth management. Total net revenue was $182.4B, up 3%; after $95.6B of expense and $14.2B set aside for credit losses, net income was $57.0B, down 2%, a return on tangible common equity of 20%.
What it sells
| Segment, 2025 | Net revenue | Net income |
|---|---|---|
| Consumer & Community BankingChase: deposits, cards, mortgages, auto loans, branches in 48 states | $76.0B | $18.2B |
| Commercial & Investment Bankbanking and payments for companies, investment banking, markets, securities services | $78.5B | $27.8B |
| Asset & Wealth Managementfunds and portfolios for institutions and the wealthy; $4.8 trillion under management | $24.1B | $6.5B |
| Corporatetreasury and chief investment office, the firm's own securities and funding | $7.0B | $4.5B |
Net revenue and net income by segment as the firm reports them. Return on equity: Consumer & Community Banking 32%, Commercial & Investment Bank 18%, Asset & Wealth Management 40%.
Unit economics
Spend 52 cents of each revenue dollar on running the firm (the overhead ratio) and hold capital against the rest: a Common Equity Tier 1 ratio of 14.6% against a requirement of 11.5%, the surplus returned as dividends and buybacks. Scale is the economics: 318,512 employees, $4.4 trillion of assets, and a technology bill of $11.0B a year that a smaller bank cannot match. Credit cost is the swing: the provision rose to $14.2B from $10.7B, and the card net charge-off rate was 3.31%.
Competitive position
The firm ranked first in global investment banking fees with 8.4% of the wallet; markets revenue was $35.8B, up 19%, and assets under management grew 18%. It competes with every other bank, broker and asset manager, and, in its own words, with "firms that offer products and services solely through the internet and non-financial companies" that disintermediate banking; "financial technology companies, may not be subject to banking regulation". It is a global systemically important bank, supervised by the Federal Reserve and the OCC, stress tested yearly, with a capital surcharge for its size.
Biggest cost inputs
Interest paid on deposits and borrowings; compensation, $54.5B; technology, communications and equipment, $11.0B; professional and outside services, $12.4B; marketing, $5.5B; credit losses on loans and cards; and the capital regulators require it to hold, which caps the leverage of all of it.
Anatomy of a large upside
- Scale keeps taking share in every business at once. Deposits grew 6%, markets revenue 19%, assets under management 18% and investment banking held the first rank; each business funds the technology and balance sheet that the next one wins with, while smaller banks and new entrants cannot.
- Capital rules ease and the surplus comes home. The stress capital buffer is fixed at 2.5% through September 2027 and the Basel III proposal that would have raised requirements was withdrawn for a new one; capital above 11.5% is returned to shareholders or lent.
- A long credit and rate cycle with no recession. Revolving card balances, loan growth of 11% and a steep enough curve keep net interest income growing while charge-offs stay at today's level.
Anatomy of a large downside
- The credit cycle turns. The provision already rose from $10.7B to $14.2B and the card net charge-off rate is 3.31%; a recession, in the firm's own words, brings "a contraction of available credit", higher charge-offs and losses on market-making positions.
- Rates fall and the deposit margin goes with them. Net interest income already faced "deposit margin compression and the impact of lower rates"; Corporate's net interest income fell $3.7B in 2025, and lower rates shrink the largest line of revenue.
- Regulation and new money cut the fees. A lower debit interchange cap, state fee laws, the consent order, fines sized on conduct, and deposits moving to stablecoins and internet-only firms that "may not be subject to banking regulation" erode the fee and funding base.
Written from JPMorganChase's annual report for 2025, in its words and numbers. The extremes are the long view, what has to break for the result to land far from the forecast; the quarter's own cases, each model's, are on the quarter forecast.