By Daniel Hunter
A 12% rise in profit has been reported by JPMorgan Chase, taking the US banking giant to $5.91bn (£4bn) for the three months to the end of March, as revenue from bond trading improved.
Net income in its corporate and investment banking division was $2.5bn, up $412m compared with the same period a year earlier.
However, JPMorgan also reported an after-tax charge of $487m for legal expenses, and set aside a total of $959m to cover bad loans ($109m higher than a year earlier).
These legal expenses stem in part from the fact that it still faces an investigation by the US Justice Department into its involvement in the manipulation of foreign exchange markets.
