JPMorgan Chase & Co reported a third-quarter profit as the biggest US bank boosted revenue from trading and investment banking, and moved past the huge legal claims that pushed it into a rare loss in the same quarter last year.

The bank, confirming figures leaked earlier on an investment website, said yesterday it recorded net income of $5.6bn, or $1.36 per share, for the three months ended September 30, compared with a loss of $380mn a year earlier.

Analysts had expected earnings of $1.38 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S, and JPMorgan’s shares were down 1.7% at $57.19 in premarket trading.

“The Corporate & Investment Bank saw strong performance in fees, maintaining a No 1 position in global (investment banking) fees year to date, with particular strength in equity capital markets,” Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said in a statement.

“In Markets, we saw increased activity and better performance overall, particularly in currencies and emerging markets,” he said.

Dimon said on a conference call with reporters that his health prognosis was “excellent.”

“I feel good and I’m happy the treatments are over.”

The bank was hit last year by an after-tax expense of $7.2bn to settle government allegations of wrongdoing related to mortgage instruments before the financial crisis. The latest results included a legal expense of $1bn after tax.

Citigroup

Citigroup said it would pull out of consumer banking in 11 markets, including Japan and Egypt, as the most international US bank focuses on more profitable businesses.

Citigroup, which reported a better-than-expected 13% rise in adjusted third-quarter net profit, is returning to an earlier structure of concentrating its extensive global reach on business clients by pruning its consumer businesses worldwide.

Citigroup’s shares rose 3.3% to $51.52 in early trading yesterday.

The latest exits will bring down to 24 the number of countries where Citigroup has consumer banks.

“I am committed to simplifying our company and allocating our finite resources to where we can generate the best returns for our shareholders,” Chief Executive Michael Corbat said.

The third-largest US bank said it would exit consumer operations in six Latin American countries, as well as Japan, Egypt, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Guam. Citigroup said it would continue to serve institutional clients in these markets.

Cumulative revenue from these markets was $1.6bn in the last 12 months, while net income was only $34mn with a 0.11% return on assets.

Citigroup said its unusual expenses in the third quarter included $59mn related to the sale of consumer businesses in Greece and Spain.

Adjusted net profit for the quarter rose to $3.67bn, or $1.15 per share, from $3.26bn, or $1.02 per share, a year earlier, helped by better results from its portfolio of troubled assets left over from the financial crisis. Adjusted revenue increased 10% from a year earlier to $20bn as fixed income trading business improved.

Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo & Co, the fourth largest US bank, reported a 1.7% rise in third-quarter profit yesterday as its mortgage business stabilized.

The San Francisco-based bank’s net income applicable to common shareholders rose to $5.41bn, or $1.02 per share, in the quarter, in line with analysts’ expectations. That was up from $5.32bn, or 99 cents per share, a year earlier.

Mortgage lending rose by $1bn from the second quarter to $48bn, though new home loans were 40% below the level in the third quarter of 2013. Income from mortgage banking rose 2% to $1.63bn as Wells Fargo earned bigger profits from selling home loans to investors.

A drop in refinancing activity beginning in the summer of 2013 caused mortgage banking income to plunge for four consecutive quarters.

Overall revenue was up 3.6% to $21.21bn on a 2% increase in net interest income and a 6% rise in fee income, most of which came from higher trust and investment fees. Wells Fargo’s loan portfolio grew by 3.7% to $838.9bn in the quarter from the same period a year earlier, led by a 13% increase in commercial and industrial loans. Excluding balances the bank is liquidating, loans grew 7% from a year earlier.

Gazprom

Russian gas producer Gazprom said yesterday its second quarter net profit was up 13% to 227.6bn roubles ($5.6bn) boosted by foreign exchange gains but still short of analysts expectations.

A Reuters poll of analysts had expected Gazprom to post 234bn roubles in the second quarter net profit, up from 202bn roubles the same period of last year.

The company added that its revenues were up to 1.32tn roubles in the second quarter of this year from 1.11bn roubles a year ago, beating analysts’ expectations of 1.29tn roubles.

Gazprom - in the spotlight due to a pricing dispute with Ukraine after stopping supplies there in June, citing unpaid debts - said it had to set aside 215.8bn roubles in the first six months of the year due to Ukraine’s gas debt.

Andrey Polischuk, an analyst with Raiffeisenbank, said that provisions are “a temporary negative issue”. In total, Ukraine owes Gazprom $5.4bn for gas supplies. “When the debt is returned it will boost their (Gazprom’s) results,” Polischuk said. Ukraine, Russia and European Union representatives will meet on October 21 trying to resolve gas pricing issue.  Gazprom added that its net debt fell to 894.55bn roubles in the first six months of the year from 1.11tn roubles as of December-end of 2013.