J P Morgan Chase Co

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. said Wednesday that it would buy Bank One Corp., creating a trillion-dollar bank in a deal that would further shift the U.S. financial industry's power base to the Eastern Seaboard. The combined institution would be a leader in investment banking, mutual funds, insurance and credit cards, and would cement J.P. Morgan Chase's position as the No. 2 U.S. banking firm and one of three so-called super-tier banks, with Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp.

A lawsuit accuses J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. of improperly collecting sales tax from Californians when their auto leases run out, an allegation that surfaced in February in suits against Bank of America Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co. Like the previous actions, the suit against New York-based Chase seeks certification as a class action, pursuing damages for all affected leaseholders in California. It was filed Friday in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. said Tuesday that a London court ordered Germany's WestLB to pay $165 million plus interest and costs to the U.S. bank in a suit related to the collapse of Enron Corp. The case is a victory for investment banks seeking to recoup losses on transactions with Enron entities. "They've been beaten to death on this [Enron] so far and this is the first glimmer of light," said analyst Dick Bove with research firm Hoefer & Arnett.

Van Nuys resident Richard Levinson figured he was getting a pretty sweet deal when JPMorgan Chase & Co. offered to charge an average 4.5% in interest if he'd transfer his outstanding credit card debt to the bank. Levinson, 54, a musician, planned to use the Chase account as a rainy-day fund that would cost relatively little to maintain. "I work in an industry where I can never be sure of my income," he told me.

After buying Washington Mutual Bank last fall in a government-backed deal, JPMorgan Chase & Co. intends to discard the giant thrift's brand name in the spring and to add branches in California this year despite the ailing economy. New York-based JPMorgan, which currently has no retail presence in California, will rebrand the 708 WaMu branches in California with Chase's octagonal blue logo on March 30, JPMorgan Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. said Wednesday that its fourth-quarter profit fell 34% after its exposure to sub-prime mortgages devalued its portfolio by $1.3 billion. Chief Executive Jamie Dimon also attributed the profit decline at the nation's third-largest bank by market capitalization to worse-than-expected results in home equity loans. Net income fell to $2.97 billion, or 86 cents a share, in the October-December period, from $4.53 billion, or $1.26, in the same period a year earlier.

The Federal Reserve took extraordinary steps Sunday to bolster investors' shaken confidence, opening a lending window to securities firms, slicing a key interest rate and backing with $30 billion in emergency funds the bargain-basement purchase of ailing Bear Stearns Cos. by rival JPMorgan Chase & Co.

In the biggest bank failure in U.S. history, Washington Mutual Bank was seized late Thursday by federal regulators and immediately sold to JPMorgan Chase & Co. for $1.9 billion. Customer deposits will be secure, regulators said, but shareholders of the nation's largest savings and loan will see what's left of their holdings wiped out. WaMu shares have lost 88% of their value this year amid huge losses in the bank's mortgage loan and credit card businesses.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. on Friday became the latest major bank to beef up its mortgage modification efforts as the government also considers a plan to help homeowners avoid foreclosure. JPMorgan's expanded program aims to help avoid foreclosures on an estimated $70 billion in loans, which could aid as many as 400,000 customers. The New York-based banking giant has already modified about $40 billion in mortgages, helping 250,000 customers since early 2007.

Fourth-quarter earnings at JPMorgan Chase & Co. soared 68% on strong investment banking growth and a gain from the sale of the bank's corporate trust business, but signs of worsening credit quality worried investors. The New York-based bank, the nation's third-largest, on Wednesday was the latest financial institution to report solid 2006 profit growth while warning of deteriorating credit as customers appeared to have more trouble keeping up with bills.