When JPMorgan kicked off the Wall Street bank reporting season by revealing massive provisions for loan losses due to the pandemic, some observers immediately suspected “a kitchen sink” job.

The biggest US bank increased its provisions by $6.8bn to a total of $25bn, in line with what it set aside at the height of the global financial crisis in 2009. Yet some analysts expect the losses to be lower this time. Credit losses for corporate and investment banks could be around $150bn, according to a new report from Oliver Wyman and Morgan Stanley — less than half what they lost in the financial crisis.