Monday May 4, 06:05 PM
JPMorgan says no need for additional capital
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WASHINGTON (AFP) - Top US bank JPMorgan Chase said Monday it did not require additional capital injections following "stress tests" conducted by the authorities on banks to weather the global financial crisis.
"I don't think we need to raise capital," chairman and chief executive Jamie Dimon told an analysts conference ahead of a government announcement Thursday on details of the tests conducted on the 19 biggest US banks that have received public aid to weather the global financial crisis.
The tests are being conducted by the Federal Reserve and other regulators at the request of the US Treasury.
Dimon also said that his bank was awaiting regulatory approval to repay 25 billion dollars in funding from the Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program "as soon as the government allowed it."
JPMorgan Chase, which last month reported a net profit of 2.1 billion dollars in the first quarter of 2009, has emerged as one of the biggest survivors of the banking sector meltdown of 2008.
The group reported profit per share of 40 cents, well above the 32 cents per share expected by analysts.
Revenues jumped 50 percent from a year earlier to 26.9 billion dollars.
Dimon said then that the company was expanding its lending but also digging in for a possible deepening of the economic crisis by boosting its capital and reserves for potential losses.
"We remain focused on capital and balance sheet strength," Dimon had said.
JPMorgan had acquired Wall Street giant Bear Stearns (BSC - news) in 2008 as it neared collapse and then scooped up Washington Mutual (NYSE: WM - news) after the deepening of the financial crisis forced the giant thrift into bankruptcy.
The results of the stress tests of the banks' capacity to withstand a worse-case scenario of the current recession will be published after the stock market closes Thursday, a government source told AFP last week.
According to the source, the tests should reveal information about the banks as a group, as well as details on each individual bank.
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