Equities provided some solace to JP Morgan by posting year-on-year double-digit gains in both underwriting and sales and trading in the third quarter, as the US bank today opened the reporting season for Wall Street’s biggest banks.

The third-quarter $7.2 billion after-tax charge for legal expenses, which included reserves for litigation and regulatory matters and was booked in the bank's corporate unit, drove it to a $380 million net loss at group level.