J.P. Morgan Is Getting Smaller. Assets decline $160 billion as bank moves to simplify in face of new capital rules

The Wall Street Journal reports:

The nation’s largest bank is getting smaller.

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. reported third-quarter results Tuesday that disappointed some investors as revenue fell 7%. But some of the bank’s shrinkage was by design, an effort to become simpler and less sprawling as new capital regulations are set to roll out in coming years.

The New York bank, run by Chairman and Chief Executive James Dimon, said its overall assets declined by $160 billion in the six months ended Sept. 30 to $2.42 trillion, a 6% drop. The last time assets declined at the bank by that much was in early 2009, during the financial crisis.

The bank is trying to become smaller because the Federal Reserve is preparing to apply new capital surcharges that will be more costly to a bank the larger and more complex it is. On Tuesday, J.P. Morgan executives said they think they have made enough moves to reduce its surcharge to 4% from 4.5%.

Regulation in the news.