Four banks, $42.5bn of Q2 profit: how to read the Q3 releases
JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, Citi and Bank of America report Q3 results on October 13 and 14, 2026. Their Q2 filings show the five lines to read first.
- What happened
- JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Citigroup report third-quarter 2026 results on Tuesday, October 13, 2026, and Bank of America on Wednesday, October 14, 2026. In the second quarter of 2026 the four earned a combined $42.5 billion, and $4.2 billion of JPMorgan's $21.2 billion came from one-off gains.
- Why
- A bank's profit is three things netted together: the spread it earns on loans and deposits, the money it sets aside for loans that go bad, and the capital it is required to hold. Each has its own line in the release, and each moves for a different reason.
- The numbers that matter
- $25.6bnJPMorgan net interest income, Q2 2026, up 10% on a year earlier$149mJPMorgan net reserve build, Q2 2026, on $2.5bn of credit costs10.3%Wells Fargo CET1 ratio, June 30, 2026, the lowest of the four0.47%Bank of America net charge-off ratio, Q2 2026
- Why it matters
- Bank of America alone averaged $2.02 trillion of deposits in Q2 2026. A bank's net interest income is the other side of the rate paid on a reader's savings account, and its provisions are a published reading of whether households and companies are paying their loans.
- What happens nextas we saw it on 13 Oct 2026
- JPMorgan releases at about 7:00 a.m. ET and Citi at about 8:00 a.m. ET on October 13, 2026; Wells Fargo reports the same day; Bank of America releases at about 6:45 a.m. ET on October 14, 2026.
Net interest income is the largest single revenue line at all four banks, and it ran at $71 billion a quarter across the group in Q2 2026.
| JPMorgan Chase | 25.6 |
|---|---|
| Citigroup | 17.1 |
| Bank of America | 16.0 |
| Wells Fargo | 12.3 |
The first thing to know about JPMorgan Chase's second-quarter 2026 profit is that one fifth of it was not banking. The release reported net income of $21.2 billion, or $7.70 a share. It then reported net income excluding “significant items” of $16.9 billion, or $6.14 a share. The $4.2 billion after-tax gap was a $4.6 billion pre-tax gain on Visa shares plus $1.0 billion of gains on equity investments. Nothing about lending or deposits produced it, and it does not repeat.
That is the point of this piece. On Tuesday, October 13, 2026, JPMorgan, Wells Fargo and Citigroup publish their third-quarter results, and Bank of America follows on Wednesday, October 14. The headline numbers will be reported within minutes. What they mean takes five lines from inside the release, and the second-quarter filings show where those lines sit and what they looked like last time.
Everything below is taken from what the banks have already filed. It contains no estimate of what they are about to say.
The dates and times, from the banks themselves
| Bank | Date | Release time (ET) | Announced |
|---|---|---|---|
| JPMorgan Chase | Tuesday, October 13, 2026 | About 7:00 a.m.; call 8:30 a.m. | September 17, 2026 |
| Wells Fargo | Tuesday, October 13, 2026 | Not stated in the schedule notice | February 20, 2026 (updated date) |
| Citigroup | Tuesday, October 13, 2026 | About 8:00 a.m.; call 11:00 a.m. | October 2, 2026 |
| Bank of America | Wednesday, October 14, 2026 | About 6:45 a.m.; call 8:30 a.m. | September 30, 2026 |
Wells Fargo's notice of February 20, 2026 lists the third quarter as “Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026 (updated)”, while the other three quarters are marked “previously announced”. The bank gave no reason in the notice.
Line one: net interest income
A bank's core revenue is the difference between what it earns on loans and securities and what it pays on deposits and borrowing. The release calls it net interest income, or NII. It is the biggest number on the page at all four banks, and it is the line most directly tied to the Federal Reserve's target range, which was raised to 3.75%–4.00% on September 16, 2026.
From the 10-Q: $17,125 million in the three months to June 30, 2026, against $15,175 million in the same period of 2025. (17,125 − 15,175) ÷ 15,175 = 12.85%. The press release rounds this to “up 13%”. Across the four banks, Q2 2026 NII sums to 25.6 + 17.125 + 16.0 + 12.317 = $71.0 billion for one quarter.
A rise in NII can come from more loans, from a wider spread, or from both. JPMorgan's release gives the balances alongside the income: average loans up 10% on a year earlier, average deposits up 7%. Bank of America reported average loans and leases of $1.22 trillion, up 8%, and average deposits of $2.02 trillion, up more than 2%. Wells Fargo reported average loans of $1,026.5 billion and average deposits of $1,465.6 billion. When the third-quarter figures land, the useful comparison is NII growth against loan growth: if income rises faster than balances, the spread widened.
JPMorgan also reports NII “excluding Markets”. The trading desks earn interest too, but their NII swings with positioning rather than with the lending book, which is why the bank strips it out: $23.7 billion, up 4%, against the $25.6 billion headline, up 10%. The gap between those two growth rates is the trading contribution.
Line two: the provision, and what sits inside it
The provision for credit losses is the quarter's charge for loans expected to go bad. It is not the same as loans that actually went bad. Under current accounting a bank books an allowance for expected lifetime losses when it makes a loan, then adjusts it every quarter. The provision line is therefore two things added together: net charge-offs (loans written off in the quarter, less recoveries) and the change in the allowance (a build if the bank added to it, a release if it took money out).
| Bank | Provision | Net charge-offs | Allowance change | NCO ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JPMorgan Chase | $2.5bn | $2.4bn | Build of $149m | Card Services 3.34% |
| Citigroup | $2.5bn ($2,522m in 10-Q) | $2.4bn, up 8% | Net build (see note) | Not stated in release |
| Bank of America | $1.4bn (from $1.6bn in Q2 2025) | $1.4bn (from $1.5bn) | Not broken out in the summary | 0.47%, down 8 bps |
| Wells Fargo | $914m (from $1,005m) | $876m | Allowance $14,407m, 1.40% of loans | 0.34% annualised |
The release states: “Credit costs of $2.5 billion with $2.4 billion of net charge-offs and a $149 million net reserve build.” Net charge-offs were “down $44 million” on a year earlier. The build was “primarily in Wholesale”. The card book, where consumer stress shows first, ran a net charge-off rate of 3.34%.
Net charge-offs of $876 million in the quarter, annualised (× 4) = $3,504 million. Against average loans of $1,026.5 billion: 3,504 ÷ 1,026,500 = 0.341%, which the bank reports as 0.34%. The allowance of $14,407 million is 1.40% of total loans, so 14,407 ÷ 3,504 = 4.1 years of charge-offs at the Q2 annualised pace.
A provision that rises because charge-offs rose means borrowers are already failing to pay. A provision that rises because the allowance was built means the bank expects more of them to fail later, often because its economic assumptions changed. Both show up as the same cost on the income statement. Only the breakdown tells you which one happened, and all four banks publish it in the first two pages of the release or in the supplement.
Line three: the capital ratio
Common Equity Tier 1, or CET1, is the capital a bank holds against its risk-weighted assets. It is the number regulators watch, the number that sets how much can be paid out, and the one line in a bank release that is a stock, not a flow. All four report it as a preliminary estimate under the Standardized approach.
The four banks returned large sums in the quarter. JPMorgan paid a $4.0 billion common dividend ($1.50 a share) and made $6.2 billion of net share repurchases. Bank of America returned $8.0 billion: $2.0 billion in dividends and $6.0 billion in buybacks. Wells Fargo bought back 37.4 million shares for $3.0 billion and said it expected to raise its quarterly dividend to $0.50 from $0.45, subject to board approval. Citigroup put capital returned at approximately $5.0 billion. A ratio that holds steady while that much goes out the door means the bank earned it and more.
Lines four and five: expenses and the return on equity
Two more numbers close the loop. Noninterest expense is what it costs to run the bank, and it rose at every one of the four: JPMorgan $27.3 billion, up 15%; Bank of America $18.6 billion, up 8%; Citigroup $14.2 billion, up 5%; Wells Fargo $13,661 million, up 2% from $13,379 million. JPMorgan expresses the relationship as an overhead ratio, expense divided by revenue: 48% reported, 47% managed.
Return on tangible common equity, ROTCE, is the summary line. JPMorgan reported 29%, or 23% excluding the significant items. Wells Fargo reported 17.7%, up from 15.2% a year earlier. Bank of America reported 17.0%. Citigroup reported 13.0%, up from 8.7% in Q2 2025. The spread between those four numbers is the spread between the banks' mix of businesses and capital. Links to the site's explainer on adjusted earnings and on the income statement cover the mechanics.
| Bank | Net income | Diluted EPS | Revenue | ROTCE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JPMorgan Chase | $21.2bn ($16.9bn ex significant items) | $7.70 ($6.14 ex items) | $57.3bn reported; $58.0bn managed | 29% (23% ex items) |
| Bank of America | $9.1bn, up 27% | $1.21, from $0.90 | $31.6bn, up 15% | 17.0% |
| Wells Fargo | $6,407m | $2.00, from $1.60 | $22,622m, up 9% from $20,822m | 17.7% |
| Citigroup | $5.8bn, up 45% from $4.0bn | $3.15, from $1.96 | $24.8bn, up 14% from $21.7bn | 13.0% |
Net income for Q2 2026: JPMorgan $21,155 million + Bank of America $9.1 billion + Wells Fargo $6,407 million + Citigroup $5,831 million = $42.5 billion. Of that, $4.2 billion after tax at JPMorgan came from the Visa and equity-investment gains, so the underlying figure is closer to $38.3 billion. JPMorgan's significant items were 4.2 ÷ 21.2 = 19.8% of its reported profit.
What it means for your money
Three of these lines reach a household directly. Net interest income is the bank's side of the deposit rate. When the Fed's target range rose on September 16, 2026, the question for a saver was how much of the increase would be passed through; the question for the bank was the same number with the sign reversed. The final two weeks of the third quarter fell under the new range, and the deposit cost figures in the supplements show what was paid.
The provision line is a reading of credit conditions taken from the lender's own books. JPMorgan's card charge-off rate of 3.34% and Bank of America's net charge-off ratio of 0.47% in Q2 2026 are the benchmarks. A reader with a card balance can compare the bank's loss rate with the rate being charged on that balance: the gap between the two is the margin, and the site's piece on credit card interest sets out the arithmetic.
The capital ratio is the line behind FDIC insurance. Deposits are insured to the legal limit regardless of what the ratio says, but the ratio is why the question so rarely arises. A bank at 10.3% or 14.1% CET1 has that much loss-absorbing capital for every $100 of risk-weighted assets before a depositor's money is touched.
For a shareholder, the useful discipline is the one JPMorgan applied to itself: look for the “excluding significant items” figure before comparing one quarter with another, and read the buyback figure against the change in the capital ratio rather than on its own.
Sources
- JPMorganChase Reports Second-Quarter 2026 Net Income of $21.2 Billion (Form 8-K Exhibit 99.1)JPMorgan Chase & Co. via SEC EDGAR · Oct 12, 2026 · Primary source
- JPMorganChase to Host Third-Quarter 2026 Earnings Call (September 17, 2026)JPMorgan Chase & Co. Investor Relations · Oct 12, 2026 · Primary source
- Wells Fargo Reports Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results (Form 8-K Exhibit 99.1, July 14, 2026)Wells Fargo & Company via SEC EDGAR · Oct 12, 2026 · Primary source
- Wells Fargo Updates 2026 Earnings Release Date Information (February 20, 2026)Wells Fargo & Company Newsroom · Oct 12, 2026 · Primary source
- Citigroup Second Quarter 2026 Results and Key Metrics (press release, July 14, 2026)Citigroup Inc. · Oct 12, 2026 · Primary source
- Citigroup Inc. Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended June 30, 2026Citigroup Inc. via SEC EDGAR · Oct 12, 2026 · Primary source
- Citi Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Call (press release, October 2, 2026)Citigroup Inc. · Oct 12, 2026 · Primary source
- Bank of America Reports Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results (Form 8-K Exhibit 99.1, filed July 14, 2026)Bank of America Corporation via SEC EDGAR · Oct 12, 2026 · Primary source
- Bank of America to Report Third Quarter 2026 Financial Results and Host Investor Conference Call on October 14 (September 30, 2026)Bank of America Newsroom · Oct 12, 2026 · Primary source
- FOMC statement, September 16, 2026Federal Reserve Board · Sep 16, 2026 · Primary source
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