JPMorgan Chase CFO says 2025 net interest income consensus looks ‘toppy’

JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) sees the consensus for FY2025 net interest income consensus at ~$87B. “That still looks a little toppy, but it’s in the ballpark,” Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Barnum said on Friday during the company’s Q3 earnings call. Still, it’s achievable, he said.

But Chair and CEO Jamie Dimon vented frustration on focusing on NII. “It’s a number… “It’s going to be less than $87B, probably not by a lot,” but the company doesn’t know what the yield curve or the environment will be. He prefers to focus on growth rather than NII.

The biggest single factor behind the expected Q4 Q/Q decline in net interest income is the yield curve, Barnum said. The company’s guidance implies Q4 2024 NII of ~$22.9B vs. $23.4B it reported in Q3.

Given the yield curve, “we do see a clear picture of sequential declines next year” in net interest income, with the trough likely in the middle of 2025, Barnum said.

On the growth front, JPMorgan Chase (JPM) is adding private bankers and investing in AI, among other initiatives, Chair and CEO Jamie Dimon said during the bank’s Q3 earnings call.

“What you call expenses, I call investments,” he said. In other words, expenses are expected to pay off in the long term. “Our goal is to gain share.”

“Cash is a very valuable asset” in a turbulent world, Dimon said.

Call ends at 9:35 AM ET.

9:29 AM ET: There’s “almost no chance” of JPMorgan getting into a private label credit card, Dimon said.

9:15 AM ET: “My country is more important to me than my company,” Dimon said. “We try to participate in policy” on many levels.

He thinks the chance of the next administration asking him to serve “is almost nil.”

9:13 AM ET: Consumer spending is becoming boring because it’s normal. The rotation toward non-discretionary spending seems to be normalizing from the spending binge that occurred after the pandemic, management said.

Updated at 9:09 AM ET: It’s a trap to say that the Federal Reserve’s latest proposal is “reasonable” because it’s not as bad as the original proposal, Barnum said. “We have a long way to go.”

“We want the numbers to be right and justified” and well-thought out, Dimon said. “We’re anxiously waiting for the final details, that will make all the difference.”

JPMorgan Chase’s (JPM) stock erased earlier gains and slipped to -0.2% at 9:10 AM ET.