In a context of markets with very low volatility, the brokerage business of the big u.s. banks are suffering, as had accused Citigroup a few weeks ago. However, JP Morgan, the first american bank in terms of assets has exceeded consensus expectations in the third quarter, as Citigroup, the country’s fourth largest bank by the size of the balance sheet.
The two giants of Wall Street have reported quarterly earnings on the rise, driven by the force of the activity of loans to households and businesses, while the Fed has raised its rates, which pulls their margins.
“The global economy continues to perform well, and the situation of the american consumer remains healthy with solid growth in wages,” observed Jamie Dimon, Ceo of JP Morgan, in a press release from the bank.
If the income of the activity in the markets fell by 21%, the loan portfolio of JPMorgan rose 7%. Net income for the quarter rose 7.1% to 6,73 billion. At Citigroup, loan volumes grew by 2%, including 12% in the retail bank where the demand for its credit cards has greatly increased, thanks to the exclusive partnership with the retail giant Costco, which had broken with American Express after 16 years. The net income shows an increase of 7.6% over the quarter to $ 4.1 billion.
But the debate at this time is elsewhere in the bank. Which are of interest to media and analysts is a virtual currency, which beats a record on record (over $ 5,000 this Thursday) : the Bitcoin.
The Bitcoin is nothing more than a scam ?
When asked about the Bitcoin, Jamie Dimon, who had described the crypto-currency scam and scam, drawing a few jeers, objected :
“I do all not so high in the category of important things in the world. But I don’t want to talk about Bitcoin” has he answered the boss of the powerful american bank during the conference call of presentation of results.
Its chief financial officer, Marianne Lake, was, on the contrary, assured that the bank was “very open to currencies digital properly controlled and regulated”.
“It reminded me that we were moving thousands of billions of dollars per day… of digital way. This is not cash,” admitted Jamie Dimon.
The chief financial officer for Citigroup, John Gerspach, said his side on Thursday, during a conference call, a team of the bank to Dublin “board on the commercial uses of virtual currencies and the Blockchain”.
At the beginning of October, the boss of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein, said that his bank had led a reflection on the possible uses of Bitcoin, pointing out that the people were skeptical when the paper (the notes) replaced gold.
Still thinking about #Bitcoin. No conclusion – not endorsing/rejecting. Know that folks also were skeptical when paper money displaced gold.
— Lloyd Blankfein (@lloydblankfein) October 3, 2017
In the real world, it is the impact of the hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria should be felt in the last quarter. Citigroup has spent a provision of $ 100 million to cover losses related to natural disasters and the earthquake murderer of Mexico city in September.
