JPMorgan Chase Co posted a record quarterly profit yesterday as falling interest rates and a recovering housing market brought big increases in mortgage lending.

The mortgage market, long a drag on bank results, is starting to lift lenders’ earnings again, and JPMorgan chief executive Jamie Dimon said he was hopeful about the outlook for US residential real estate. “We believe the housing market has turned the corner,” he said.

JPMorgan suffered modest losses in the latest quarter from the “London whale” trades that brought it $5.8 billion of losses in the first half of the year, signalling that it is moving on after the scandal. The bank had a 36 per cent increase in mortgage lending revenue in the third quarter. – (Reuters)