JPMorgan Chase

Is JPMorgan Chase safe?

Yes. For someone keeping a salary and savings at Chase, it is one of the safest places to hold money in the United States. Two numbers do most of the work. First, FDICDeposit insuranceA government-backed scheme that repays bank customers up to a set limit if their bank fails, such as the FDIC in the US or the FSCS in the UK.More in the glossary insurance covers $250,000 per depositor, per ownership category. Second, the group held a standardized CET1 ratioCET1 ratioA bank's highest-quality capital (mainly shares and retained profits) as a share of its risk-weighted assets. Higher means more room to absorb losses.More in the glossary of 14.1% at 30 June 2026, against a requirement of 11.5% including all buffers. We score it 80/100, the highest of the US banks we cover.

The catch is behaviour, not solvency. JPMorgan has paid some of the largest US penalties of the past decade, mostly from its trading floors. That does not put your current account at risk, but it costs points.

How strong is its capital?

JPMorgan is the world's largest bank by market value and holds about $5.0 trillion in assets. At the end of June 2026 it had $303 billion of common equity tier 1CET1 ratioA bank's highest-quality capital (mainly shares and retained profits) as a share of its risk-weighted assets. Higher means more room to absorb losses.More in the glossary capital against $2.13 trillion of risk-weighted assets. Its 11.5% requirement includes a 2.5% stress capital buffer, which the Federal Reserve has frozen until 30 September 2027, and a G-SIBG-SIBA global systemically important bank: one of the large banks the Financial Stability Board lists each year because its failure could harm the world economy.More in the glossary surcharge.

The rating agencies treat the operating bank, JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., as one of the strongest in the world:

	Moody's	S&P	Fitch
JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.	Aa2	AA-	AA
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (holding company)	A1	A	AA-

The lower holding-company ratings reflect US resolution rules. In a failure, the parent's bondholders take losses first, which helps protect depositors at the bank.

Which entity holds your money?

Checking and savings accounts at Chase are deposits at JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. That is the entity with FDICDeposit insuranceA government-backed scheme that repays bank customers up to a set limit if their bank fails, such as the FDIC in the US or the FSCS in the UK.More in the glossary cover. Brokerage and investment accounts at J.P. Morgan Securities LLC are different: they are covered by SIPC if assets go missing, not by the FDIC, and SIPC does not protect against market losses.

Chase outside the US is a different bank. In the UK, Chase is a trading name of J.P. Morgan Europe Limited, which is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority (FRN 124579), so UK deposits fall under the FSCS limit of £120,000 per person rather than FDIC cover. On 20 May 2026 Chase also launched in Germany, starting with a savings account. That account is run by J.P. Morgan SE in Frankfurt, licensed by BaFin, and Chase says savings are covered by the statutory German scheme up to €100,000 and by the private banks' voluntary fund up to €3 million.

The Financial Stability Board puts JPMorgan alone in bucket 4 of its list of global systemically important banksG-SIBA global systemically important bank: one of the large banks the Financial Stability Board lists each year because its failure could harm the world economy.More in the glossary, one level above Bank of America and Citigroup. That brings the strictest capital surcharge and close supervision. It also makes a disorderly failure very unlikely, though no rule guarantees a rescue.

Liquidity: plenty of cash, lots of large deposits

The group's liquidity coverage ratioLiquidity coverage ratioA bank's cash and easy-to-sell assets compared with the money that could flow out in a 30-day crisis. It must be at least 100%.More in the glossary averaged 110% in the second quarter of 2026 and the bank's 118%. A ratio above 100% means it holds enough liquid assets to cover 30 days of stressed outflows. It had about $975 billion of high-quality liquid assets on average.

The weaker point is how much of the deposit base sits above insurance limits. JPMorgan estimated $1.74 trillion of uninsured deposits at 30 June 2026, mostly companies' operating accounts. Those are usually sticky. Still, the 2023 runs on Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic showed how fast uninsured money can move. In March 2023 it went the other way at JPMorgan: deposits flowed in, and it bought First Republic from the FDICDeposit insuranceA government-backed scheme that repays bank customers up to a set limit if their bank fails, such as the FDIC in the US or the FSCS in the UK.More in the glossary in May.

Fines and consent orders

The conduct record pulls the score down. The main cases in the last ten years:

• September 2020: $920 million to the CFTC, Justice Department and SEC over spoofing in precious metals and US Treasury futures. The CFTC called it a record.
• November 2020: $250 million from the OCC over weak internal controls in wealth management.
• March 2024: $348.2 million from the Federal Reserve ($98.2 million) and the OCC for gaps in monitoring trading for market abuse between 2014 and 2023.

It also paid $290 million in 2023 to settle a class action from Jeffrey Epstein's victims. JPMorgan did not admit liability in that case.

Digital security and outages

Chase offers two-step verificationTwo-factor authenticationSigning in with a second proof of identity on top of your password, such as a code from an app, a security key or a passkey.More in the glossary by text message or push notification in the app, card locks and real-time alerts. Its last big breach was in 2014, when attackers took names, addresses and phone numbers linked to about 76 million households, but no account passwords. Like other large US banks, Chase customers are targeted by Zelle and impersonation scams. In December 2024 the CFPB sued JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Zelle's operator over fraud on the network. The bureau dropped the case in March 2025.

How to keep your money safe at Chase

• Keep each ownership category under $250,000. A couple can hold $250,000 each in single accounts and $500,000 in a joint account, all fully insured.
• If you hold more, spread it across separate banks. Accounts at Chase and at a bank it owns under another brand may count as one bank, so check with the FDICDeposit insuranceA government-backed scheme that repays bank customers up to a set limit if their bank fails, such as the FDIC in the US or the FSCS in the UK.More in the glossary's EDIE estimator.
• Turn on push-notification sign-in approval, and never move money to a "safe account" because someone claiming to be Chase calls you. Chase does not ask for that.

How we scored it

Capital (88), deposit protectionDeposit insuranceA government-backed scheme that repays bank customers up to a set limit if their bank fails, such as the FDIC in the US or the FSCS in the UK.More in the glossary (92) and stability (85) are among the best scores in the category. Conduct (55) is the weakest factor, because of repeated nine-figure US penalties tied to its trading business. For comparison, see Bank of America and Wells Fargo.