JPMorgan Chase & Co. (“JPMorgan Chase” or the “Firm”), a financial holding company incorporated under Delaware law in 1968, is a leading global financial services firm and one of the largest banking institutions in the U.S. with operations worldwide. The Firm is a leader in investment banking, financial services for consumers and small business, commercial banking, financial transaction processing and asset management. For a discussion of the Firm’s business segments, refer to Note 31.

Voting interest entities are entities that have sufficient equity and provide the equity investors voting rights that enable them to make significant decisions relating to the entity’s operations. For these types of entities, the Firm’s determination of whether it has a controlling interest is primarily based on the amount of voting equity interests held. Entities in which the Firm has a controlling financial interest, through ownership of the majority of the entities’ voting equity interests, or through other contractual rights that give the Firm control, are consolidated by the Firm.

Investments in companies in which the Firm has significant influence over operating and financing decisions (but does not own a majority of the voting equity interests) are accounted for (i) in accordance with the equity method of accounting (which requires the Firm to recognize its proportionate share of the entity’s net earnings), or (ii) at fair value if the fair value option was elected. These investments are generally included in other assets, with income or loss included in noninterest revenue.

Certain Firm-sponsored asset management funds are structured as limited partnerships or certain limited liability companies. For many of these entities, the Firm is the general partner or managing member, but the non-affiliated partners or members have the ability to remove the Firm as the general partner or managing member without cause

(i.e., kick-out rights), based on a simple majority vote, or the non-affiliated partners or members have rights to participate in important decisions. Accordingly, the Firm does not consolidate these voting interest entities. However, in the limited cases where the non-managing partners or members do not have substantive kick-out or participating rights, the Firm evaluates the funds as VIEs and consolidates the funds if the Firm is t h e general partner or managing member and has a potentially significant interest.

The Firm’s investment companies and asset management funds have investments in both publicly-held and privately-held entities, including investments in buyouts, growth equity and venture opportunities. These investments are accounted for under investment company guidelines and, accordingly, irrespective of the percentage of equity ownership interests held, are carried on the Consolidated balance sheets at fair value, and are recorded in other assets, with income or loss included in noninterest revenue. If consolidated, the Firm retains such specialized investment company guidelines.

VIEs are entities that, by design, either (1) lack sufficient equity to permit the entity to finance its activities without additional subordinated financial support from other parties, or (2) have equity investors that do not have the ability to make significant decisions relating to the entity’s operations through voting rights, or do not have the obligation to absorb the expected losses, or do not have the right to receive the residual returns of the entity.

The most common type of VIE is an SPE. SPEs are commonly used in securitization transactions in order to isolate certain assets and distribute the cash flows from those assets to investors. The basic SPE structure involves a company selling assets to the SPE; the SPE funds the purchase of those assets by issuing securities to investors. The legal documents that govern the transaction specify how the cash earned on the assets must be allocated to the SPE’s investors and other parties that have rights to those cash flows. SPEs are generally structured to insulate investors from claims on the SPE’s assets by creditors of other entities, including the creditors of the seller of the assets.

The primary beneficiary of a VIE (i.e., the party that has a controlling financial interest) is required to consolidate the assets and liabilities of the VIE. The primary beneficiary is the party that has both (1) the power to direct the activities of the VIE that most significantly impact the VIE’s economic performance; and (2) through its interests in the VIE, the obligation to absorb losses or the right to receive benefits from the VIE that could potentially be significant to the VIE.

To assess whether the Firm has the power to direct the activities of a VIE that most significantly impact the VIE’s economic performance, the Firm considers all the facts and circumstances, including its role in establishing the VIE and its ongoing rights and responsibilities. This assessment

includes, first, identifying the activities that most significantly impact the VIE’s economic performance; and second, identifying which party, if any, has power over those activities. In general, the parties that make the most significant decisions affecting the VIE (such as asset managers, collateral managers, servicers, or owners of call options or liquidation rights over the VIE’s assets) or have the right to unilaterally remove those decision-makers are deemed to have the power to direct the activities of a VIE.

To assess whether the Firm has the obligation to absorb losses of the VIE or the right to receive benefits from the VIE that could potentially be significant to the VIE, the Firm considers all of its economic interests, including debt and equity investments, servicing fees, and derivatives or other arrangements deemed to be variable interests in the VIE. This assessment requires that the Firm apply judgment in determining whether these interests, in the aggregate, are considered potentially significant to the VIE. Factors considered in assessing significance include: the design of the VIE, including its capitalization structure; subordination of interests; payment priority; relative share of interests held across various classes within the VIE’s capital structure; and the reasons why the interests are held by the Firm.

The Firm performs on-going reassessments of: (1) whether entities previously evaluated under the majority voting-interest framework have become VIEs, based on certain events, and are therefore subject to the VIE consolidation framework; and (2) whether changes in the facts and circumstances regarding the Firm’s involvement with a VIE cause the Firm’s consolidation conclusion to change.

JPMorgan Chase records noninterest revenue from certain contracts with customers under ASC 606, Revenue from Contracts with customers, in investment banking fees, deposit-related fees, asset management administration and commissions, and components of card income. Under this guidance, revenue is recognized when the Firm’s performance obligations are satisfied. For further discussion of the Firm’s revenue from contracts with customers, refer to Note 6.

JPMorgan Chase carries a portion of its assets and liabilities at fair value. Changes in fair value are reported primarily in principal transactions revenue. For further discussion of fair value measurement, refer to Notes 2 and 3. For further discussion of principal transactions revenue, refer to Note 6.

The preparation of the Consolidated Financial Statements requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, revenue and expense, and disclosures of contingent assets and liabilities. Actual results could be different from these estimates.

Gains and losses relating to translating functional currency financial statements for U.S. reporting are included in OCI within stockholders’ equity. Gains and losses relating to nonfunctional currency transactions, including non-U.S. operations where the functional currency is the U.S. dollar, are reported in the Consolidated statements of income.

U.S. GAAP permits entities to present derivative receivables and derivative payables with the same counterparty and the related cash collateral receivables and payables on a net basis on the Consolidated balance sheets when a legally enforceable master netting agreement exists. U.S. GAAP also permits securities sold and purchased under repurchase agreements and securities borrowed or loaned under securities loan agreements to be presented net when specified conditions are met, including the existence of a legally enforceable master netting agreement. The Firm has elected to net such balances when the specified conditions are met.

The Firm uses master netting agreements to mitigate counterparty credit risk in certain transactions, including derivative contracts, resale, repurchase, securities borrowed and securities loaned agreements. A master netting agreement is a single agreement with a counterparty that permits multiple transactions governed by that agreement to be terminated or accelerated and settled through a single payment in a single currency in the event of a default (e.g., bankruptcy, failure to make a required payment or securities transfer or deliver collateral or margin when due). Upon the exercise of derivatives termination rights by the non-defaulting party (i) all transactions are terminated, (ii) all transactions are valued and the positive values of “in the money” transactions are netted against the negative values of “out of the money” transactions and (iii) the only remaining payment obligation is of one of the parties to pay the netted termination amount. Upon exercise of default rights under repurchase agreements and securities loan agreements in general (i) all transactions are terminated and accelerated, (ii) all values of securities or cash held or to be delivered are calculated, and all such sums are netted against each other and (iii) the only remaining payment obligation is of one of the parties to pay the netted termination amount.

Typical master netting agreements for these types of transactions also often contain a collateral/margin agreement that provides for a security interest in, or title transfer of, securities or cash collateral/margin to the party that has the right to demand margin (the “demanding party”). The collateral/margin agreement typically requires a party to transfer collateral/margin to the demanding party with a value equal to the amount of the margin deficit on a net basis across all transactions governed by the master netting agreement, less any threshold. The collateral/margin agreement grants to the demanding party, upon default by the counterparty, the right to set-off any amounts payable by the counterparty against any posted collateral or the cash equivalent of any posted collateral/margin. It also grants to the demanding party the right to liquidate collateral/margin and to apply the proceeds to an amount payable by the counterparty.

The adoption of this guidance requires gross presentation of certain costs that were previously offset against revenue. Adoption of the guidance did not result in any material changes in the timing of the Firm’s revenue recognition. This guidance was adopted retrospectively and, accordingly, prior period amounts were revised, which resulted in an increase in both noninterest revenue and noninterest expense. The Firm did not apply any practical expedients. For additional information, refer to the table on page 158 of this Note, and Note 6.

The adoption of this guidance requires that certain equity instruments be measured at fair value, with changes in fair value recognized in earnings. The guidance also provides an alternative to measure equity securities without readily determinable fair values at cost less impairment (if any), plus or minus observable price changes from an identical or similar investment of the same issuer (the “measurement alternative”). The Firm elected the measurement alternative for its qualifying equity securities and the adoption of the guidance resulted in fair value gains of $505 million which were recognized in other income in the first quarter of 2018. For additional information, refer to Notes 2 and 10.

The adoption of this guidance better aligns hedge accounting with the economics of the Firm’s risk management activities. As permitted by the guidance, the Firm also elected to transfer certain investment securities from HTM to AFS. The adoption of this guidance resulted in a cumulative-effect adjustment to retained earnings and AOCI as a result of the investment securities transfer and the revised guidance for excluded components. For additional information, refer to the table below, and Notes 5, 10 and 23.

The adoption of this guidance requires restricted cash to be combined with unrestricted cash when reconciling the beginning and ending cash balances on the Consolidated statements of cash flows. To align the Consolidated balance sheets with the Consolidated statements of cash flows, the Firm reclassified restricted cash into cash and due from banks or deposits with banks. In addition, for the Firm’s Consolidated statements of cash flows, cash is defined as those amounts included in cash and due from banks and deposits with banks. This guidance was applied retrospectively and, accordingly, prior period amounts have been revised. For additional information, refer to the table below, and Note 25.

The adoption of this guidance requires the service cost component of net periodic pension cost and net periodic postretirement benefit cost to be reported separately in the Consolidated statements of income from the other cost components. This change was adopted retrospectively and, accordingly, prior period amounts were revised, which resulted in an increase in compensation expense and a reduction in other expense. For additional information, refer to the table below, and Note 8.

The adoption of this guidance permitted the Firm to reclassify from AOCI to retained earnings stranded tax effects due to the revaluation of deferred tax assets and liabilities as a result of changes in applicable tax rates under the TCJA. The adoption of this guidance resulted in a cumulative-effect adjustment to retained earnings and AOCI. For additional information, refer to the table below, and Note 23.



Selected Consolidated statements of income data
Year ended December 31, 2017 (in millions)	Reported		Revisions^(a)			Revised
Revenue
Investment banking fees	$	7,248	$	164		$	7,412
Asset management, administration and commissions	15,377		910			16,287
Other income	3,639		7			3,646
Total net revenue	99,624		1,081			100,705

Noninterest expense
Compensation expense	31,009		199			31,208
Technology, communication and equipment expense	7,706		9			7,715
Professional and outside services	6,840		1,050			7,890
Other expense	6,256		(177		)	6,079
Total noninterest expense	$	58,434	$	1,081		$	59,515



Year ended December 31, 2016 (in millions)	Reported		Revisions^(a)			Revised
Revenue
Investment banking fees	$	6,448	$	124		$	6,572
Asset management, administration and commissions	14,591		773			15,364
Other income	3,795		4			3,799
Total net revenue	95,668		901			96,569

Noninterest expense
Compensation expense	29,979		224			30,203
Technology, communication and equipment expense	6,846		7			6,853
Professional and outside services	6,655		871			7,526
Other expense	5,756		(201		)	5,555
Total noninterest expense	$	55,771	$	901		$	56,672



Selected Consolidated balance sheets data
December 31, 2017 (in millions)	Reported		Revisions^(a)			Revised
Assets
Cash and due from banks	$	25,827	$	71		$	25,898
Deposits with banks	404,294		1,112			405,406
Other assets	114,770		(1,183		)	113,587
Total assets	$	2,533,600	$	—		$	2,533,600



Fair value measurement	Note 2	Page 159
Fair value option	Note 3	Page 179
Derivative instruments	Note 5	Page 184
Noninterest revenue	Note 6	Page 198
Interest income and interest expense	Note 7	Page 201
Pension and other postretirement employee benefit plans	Note 8	Page 202
Employee share-based incentives	Note 9	Page 209
Investment securities	Note 10	Page 211
Securities financing activities	Note 11	Page 216
Loans	Note 12	Page 219
Allowance for credit losses	Note 13	Page 239
Variable interest entities	Note 14	Page 244
Goodwill and Mortgage servicing rights	Note 15	page 252
Premises and equipment	Note 16	page 256
Long-term debt	Note 19	page 257
Income taxes	Note 24	page 264
Off–balance sheet lending-related financial instruments, guarantees and other commitments	Note 27	page 271
Litigation	Note 29	page 278