NEW YORK: JPMorgan Chase has reported a dip in fourth-quarter earnings as hefty legal expenses once again weighed on results.

Quarterly earnings at the biggest US bank by assets fell 6.6 percent from the year-ago period to $4.9 billion. Quarterly revenues dropped 2.8 percent to $22.51 billion. The bank recorded a $990 million charge for legal expenses.

JPMorgan in October was fined about $78 million by the European Commission for rigging interest rates. The bank has also acknowledged a criminal probe by US prosecutors into its foreign exchange business. JPMorgan reached a settlement in a class-action suit over its forex trades, a source told AFP earlier this month.

Hefty legal charges have weighed on earnings over the last few years, even pushing JPMorgan to a rare loss in the October 2013 quarter.

JPMorgan’s biggest division, consumer and community banking, saw earnings drop about 11 percent to $2.2 billion, in part due to higher provisions for credit losses in some segments.

Corporate and investment banking earnings rose 3.3 percent to $972 million as strong debt underwriting fees offset declines in equity underwriting fees.