JPMorgan Chase was first to market last Friday with its profit figures for 2010. It showed stable FICC income for the fourth quarter but a decline of 14.5% for the whole of 2010. This week, as the other big US banks declared their profits, it became clear that few made more out of FICC in 2010 than they did in 2009. Where reasons are given for the subdued year they generally mention the challenging environment, lower levels of activity and tighter spreads. Despite the forthcoming regulatory necessity to restrict proprietary trading activity this doesn’t look as if it has been a factor contributing to the lower profits: average daily currency value at risk figures, where given, are generally only around 10% lower in 2010 Q4 than in 2009 Q4.
| Figures in $million | 2010Q4 | 2010Q3 | 2009Q4 | 2010 | 2009 |
| JPM Chase (FI Markets) | 2875 | 3123 | 2735 | 15025 | 17564 |
| Citi (FI Markets) | 1481 | 3501 | 1680 | 14075 | 21296 |
| Goldman Sachs (FICC client exec) | 1636 | 2687 | 3129 | 13707 | 21883 |
| BofA Merrill (FICC) | 1800 | 3527 | 1270 | 13158 | 12723 |
| Morgan Stanley(FI sales and trading) | -29 | 847 | 663 | 5867 | 4854 |
| Wells Fargo (net gains, trading) | 532 | 470 | 516 | 1648 | 2674 |
| State Street(Trading services revenue) | 310 | 228 | 270 | 1106 | 1094 |
| BNY Mellon (FX & other trading) | 258 | 146 | 246 | 886 | 1036 |
Citibank’s revenue from “Fixed Income Markets” in 2010 Q4 was $1.481