A：JP Morgan Chase reported net income of $25 billion and EPS of $63 cents for the fourth quarter. For the full year, the firm reported net income of $57.5 billion with EPS of $20.18, revenue of $185 billion, and an ROTCE of 20%.

A：Expenses of $24 billion were up 5% year on year, predominantly driven by higher volume and revenue-related expenses and compensation growth, including from office hiring, partially offset by the release of an FDIC special assessment accrual.

A：The standardized CG1 ratio ended the quarter at 14.5%, down 30 basis points versus the prior quarter, indicating that net income was more than offset by capital distributions and higher RWA.

A：The Apple Card purchase commitment contributed about 23 billion of standardized RWA, while sequentially advanced RWA was up more significantly than standardized RWA.

A：The Consumer Banking (CCP) segment reported net income of 3.6 billion or 5.3 billion, excluding the reserve build for the Apple Card portfolio, with revenue of 19.4 billion, up 6% year on year.

A：The Corporate & Investment Bank (CIB) reported net income of 7.3 billion with revenue of 19.4 billion, up 10% year on year, driven by higher revenues in markets, payments, and security services.

A：The Wealth Management (W) segment reported net income of 1.8 billion with a pre-tax margin of 38%, and revenue of 6.5 billion, up 13% year on year.

A：The firm's involvement in blockchain technology, through its Conexus offering, signifies engagement with innovative technology. It has developed capabilities such as a tokenized money market fund and is integrating with the crypto ecosystem, indicating a commitment to the technological advancements in the space.

A：The risks associated with creating a parallel banking system include it being dangerous and undesirable, as it lacks the associated safeguards that have been developed over hundreds of years of bank regulation. The focus is on avoiding the creation of a parallel ecosystem with similar economic properties and risks without adequate regulation.

A：Despite the growth in new checking accounts, deposit growth is limited by the presence of yield-seeking flows into investments, which have reduced significantly but are not yet zero. Other factors include a slightly lower savings rate and the stage of the investment cycle. These factors have caused a delay in the expected balance per account number growth in Consumer Banking (CCB), which is now anticipated to grow at a lower rate in 2026 compared to expectations at the time of the investor day.

A：For 2026, the drivers of fee revenue growth include optimism on investment banking fees, supported by a strong franchise and market environment. The outlook is very optimistic for the franchise in wealth management and asset management across both CCB and AWM. However, there's a cautious stance on market appreciation drivers due to the starting point and the nature of the year. The overall fee outlook is balanced, with growth stemming from both investment banking and broad wealth management activities.

A：The company balances the efficiency ratio with return on equity (ROE) by focusing on deploying capital across its business strategy in a manner that is consistent with intelligent financial resource deployment. The company prioritizes investing in areas that will yield a good return through the cycle, which can sometimes lead to a better efficiency ratio and is viewed as an outcome of the decisions made rather than an independent goal. The company ensures that all investments are made with the intention of being long-term profitable and maintains a focus on competitive advantage and future revenue growth.

A：Credit card interest rate caps would lead to a dramatic change in the provision of credit, especially for subprime borrowers, by restricting access to credit on a broad basis. This would result in severely negative consequences for consumers and likely also for the economy. Additionally, for institutions that issue credit cards, such a cap would present a significant challenge, especially if it affects profitability. The exact impact and the strategic reactions would depend on the details and how the industry adjusts to the imposition of price controls.

A：The impact of potential credit card rate caps would be felt across the entire card book, but it would be more pronounced on subprime cards. Prime cards would also be affected to some extent, and the effect on cobrand cards would need to be assessed on a card-by-card basis, taking into account the increased risk and the need to adjust the model accordingly.

A：The introduction of the Apple Card involves integrating a completely different technology stack that was built for the card into the company's system. This requires rebuilding their tech stack inside the company's system and meeting certain standards, which will take around two years. The process is complex because the Apple Card's technology is integrated with iOS and the company needs to enhance their current system to enable the same user interface with Apple Card users.

A：The speaker views the macroeconomic outlook for banking in the short run as positive, with consumers having money, jobs, and stimulus from legislation. Deregulation is seen as beneficial for banks and capital redeployment. However, geopolitical risks are considered to be an enormous amount of risk, and there's uncertainty about the impact of large deficits. The speaker stresses the need to deal with the current world situation and not speculate on outcomes. While recognizing the importance of the rising tide lifting all boats, they are conscious of the potential challenges this year.

A：The projected balance sheet growth for the company in 2026 is driven by loans and deposits. Specifically, the growth is expected to come from card loan growth, which is forecast to be around Ed or Ed car loan growth, as well as overall system growth and consumer balance sheet growth. On the deposit side, wholesale deposit growth from 2025 is anticipated to be followed by more modest expectations in 2026. Consumer deposit growth is projected to improve in the second half of 2026 due to robust engagement and franchise success, leading to modest deposit growth for the company.

A：The Fed's purchase of T bills by buying $40 billion a month adds to bank reserves, which initially shows up in wholesale deposits. This creates more liquidity in the system and acts as a tailwind for the financial system.

A：The speaker believes that the growth in system-wide deposits, which is attributed to wholesale deposits, will not be a significant driver of year-on-year NII growth. However, it is significant in terms of system functioning and liquidity.

A：The growth in the MV portfolio over the last seven years has been significant and is driven by market dynamics and regulatory pressures. Additionally, arbitrage activities, where the entity holds AAA-rated securities instead of directly lending, have contributed to this growth. Regulatory capital requirements and the leveraged lending guidelines have also influenced the ecosystem's growth.

A：The competitive dynamics within the private credit ecosystem have evolved significantly, with constraints from the leveraged lending guidelines leading to the growth of alternative lending options such as direct lending. There is an increasing ability to compete head-to-head in this space and a product agnostic strategy is being implemented to serve different client needs.

A：The strategy for growing the business involves focusing on short-term fluctuations in NII which are primarily driven by rates and liability. The growth strategy includes extending more financing to clients, improving market share in various regions, and emphasizing technology, research, and sales to enhance the business's competitiveness.

A：The company's plan for technology spending includes an increase to the tech budget, which is part of the broader strategy to invest in growth initiatives like opening rural branches, enhancing payment systems, and personalizing consumer banking. The company is also adding AI across the company. While the company is confident in the huge opportunities presented by these initiatives, it does not disclose detailed information on technology spending and payoffs due to competitive considerations. However, the company does intend to discuss these plans further in upcoming company updates.

A：The company's headcount growth over the past few years has been significant, and while the growth in real estate square footage was initially slower, the company has now realized that it needs to provide employees with a reasonable in-office experience. This has led to some catch-up spending on space renovations worldwide.

A：The company acknowledges that technology spending is one of the harder areas to measure and evaluate but emphasizes the importance of investment in trading, payments, consumer, asset management, corporate, and tax. They aim to be the best in the world in technology, building more payment systems, AI systems, and connecting more branches, which will result in higher network expenses.

A：The company plans to invest more in AI, recognizing its potential to drive efficiency. However, they stress that efficiency gains will eventually be passed on to customers, so the focus is not on creating three points of margin but on keeping up with competitors and staying ahead, including those in the金融科技 space.

A：The company is cautious regarding the impact of regulatory changes, particularly around credit card interest rates and G-SIB (Global Systemically Important Bank) capital requirements. They note that the flow of information is limited and rules are still pending, so it's better to be cautious and not speculate. However, they do believe that the agencies are moving towards a better approach that should be correctly implemented and that focusing on capital alone may not address all risks effectively. For the company, the emphasis is on ensuring the full spectrum of capital liquidity testing and making the system safer, not just focusing on capital.

A：The expected outlook for loan growth in traditional CNI and CIB is moderately optimistic, which is influenced by a generally optimistic outlook for the global corporate environment and optimism about the bank's growth and expansion strategies in that space.

A：The elevated charge offs this quarter were largely due to provisions, with the cost narrative being explained through net provisions. Downgrades exceeded upgrades by a small margin and parameter updates were made to assume slightly higher loss given default, which drove a small increase in the allowance.

A：The general view on credit quality is not concerning, with wholesale charge offs running at exceptionally low levels for a long time. Bringing these numbers back to slightly more normal through-cycle charge-off rates would still involve some increase, but nothing is indicating deterioration. The increase in allowance is small in the context of the overall portfolio and the numbers are not particularly influenced by rates.

A：With lower policy rates, it is expected that yield-seeking flows would abate even further, as they are already at very low levels. There's currently an standoff between low yield-seeking flow pressures and the pending return to growth of deposits per account. However, the overall narrative of intense competition in the consumer deposit space remains unchanged.

A：The thoughts on the sustainability and opportunities for growth in AWM are positive. AWM is an area of investment and optimism, with product innovation in the asset management space leading to AUM growth. Exceptional flows and hiring of advisors and bankers in the private bank have been successful, and the franchise is doing great, leading to optimism for the future.