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NEW YORK -- JPMorgan Chase & Co. reported a rare net loss as government probes continue to dog the nation's largest bank.

The New York-based company said it lost $380 million in the third quarter, or 17 cents a share, compared with a profit of $5.7 billion, or $1.40 a share, the same period last year.
Revenue slid 8% to $23.9 billion, but the bank otherwise reported strong profit growth in consumer lending, investment banking and asset management.

Excluding the $9.2 billion in legal expenses it booked, JPMorgan would have reported quarterly net income of $5.8 billion, or $1.42 a share. That would've beat the estimates of Wall Street analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.

Quiz: How much do you know about mortgages?
Jamie Dimon, chairman and chief executive, said JPMorgan's legal bills "marred" its financial performance.

"We continuously evaluate our legal reserves, but in this highly charged and unpredictable environment, with escalating demands and penalties from multiple government agencies, we thought it was prudent to significantly strengthen them," Dimon said in a statement. "While we expect our litigation costs should abate and normalize over time, they may continue to be volatile over the next several quarters."

Dimon has been under fire ever since a trader nicknamed the "London Whale" entangled the bank in a wrong-way derivatives bet that cost JPMorgan more than $6 billion.
The episode tarnished the bank's reputation as one of Wall Street's best-managed institutions, escaping the financial crisis virtually unscathed. During the turmoil, the bank even acquired two troubled institutions: Washington Mutual and Bear Stearns, both of which carried the legacy of toxic mortgage investments.

In the statement, Dimon noted that some of JPMorgan's legal woes stem from those acquisitions. The bank has been in talks to pay as much as $11 billion to settle claims by a host of federal and state agencies.

"The board continues to seek a fair and reasonable settlement with the government on mortgage-related issues -- and one that recognizes the extraordinary circumstances of the Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual transactions, which were undertaken at the request or encouragement of the U.S. government," Dimon said.

source: http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-jpmorgan-third-quarter-earnings-20131011,0,682928.story