JPMJP Morgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase is a universal bank: retail, corporate lending, investment banking and asset management under one roof.

The retail arm supplies deposits — the cheapest funding — and net interest income is built on the spread between what those deposits cost and what loans and bonds yield. That is the dominant line in results and it tracks central-bank policy directly: a tightening cycle widens the margin, easing compresses it.

The second pillar is fee income, less sensitive to rates: investment banking, markets trading, asset servicing and wealth management. Diversification means a weak year in underwriting is offset by a strong year in trading, and the other way round.

The central banking risk is credit: provisions for expected losses rise ahead of an economic downturn and hit profit immediately. Regulatory capital requirements constrain buybacks and dividends. Scale gives the bank a cost and stability advantage, and also heightened supervisory attention.