JPMorgan Chase made a $4.8 billion net profit in the fourth quarter of 2010 as its credit card performance increased significantly over the previous year, the company recently announced. This marked a 47 percent increase over the fourth quarter of 2009, when the lender's earnings were hobbled by credit card charge offs.
Even as consumers were reticent about taking on more credit card debt in general, the company opened 11.3 million new accounts during the 2010 calendar year, the report said.
"We provided credit to and raised capital for our clients of more than $1.4 trillion during the year," said JPMorgan chief executive officer Jamie Dimon. "These efforts included more than $10 billion of credit provided to over 250,000 small businesses in the U.S. in support of our communities, an increase of more than 50 percent over 2009."
These profits came even as consumers said they would largely avoid using their credit cards during the holiday shopping season.
