New York, Jan 14 (IANS): JPMorgan Chase, the biggest bank in the US, reported its fourth quarter earnings Friday, which missed Wall Street expectations.

According to the New York based bank, its profits dropped 22.8 percent to $3.73 billion in the last three months of 2011 and its revenue fell 17 percent to $22.2 billion, below analyst expectations for $23 billion.

The bank said its income took a hit because of turbulence in financial markets, which took a bite out of its investment banking fees, reported Xinhua.

Data showed net income from the bank's investment banking arm dropped 51.6 percent to $726 million from $1.5 billion in the same quarter last year, while revenue from investment banking and trading fell 30 percent to $4.35 billion in the fourth quarter from $6.21 billion in the year-ago quarter.

The bank also set aside $528 million for additional litigation costs in the quarter, in order to fight lawsuits related to poorly-written mortgages during the real estate boom.
For the full year, JPMorgan Chase posted record net income of $19 billion, compared with $17.4 billion in the prior year.