JPMorgan Chase

The worsening economy brought on by the coronavirus pandemic has big banks rethinking who they will lend to.

JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and U.S. Bancorp, along with 200 state-chartered banks and credit unions, have agreed to let borrowers skip payments for 90 days if their finances have been upended by the pandemic.

JPMorgan Chase is planning to implement a staggered work-from-home plan for its New York-area employees to help slow the spread of the coronavirus. The plan applies to most corporate employees, but not to branch workers or traders.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is shifting workers to handle an expected surge in demand for home loans as the American housing market looks forward to its strongest spring in at least a decade and the coronavirus sends mortgage rates lower.

With interest rates and unemployment at rock-bottom lows and home values rising, the part of JPMorgan's retail business that sells home loans to consumers made money last month, marking the first profitable January in five years, according to people familiar with the matter.

Mike Weinbach will lead consumer lending as part of a reorganization that will change the responsibilities of three longtime bank executives.

Banks' lowering of origination fees and loosening of underwriting standards often foreshadow a downturn.

JPMorgan Chase may jump back into a mortgage program that helps low-income Americans buy homes, mulling a return years after most banks pulled back from the business in frustration over billions of dollars in penalties.

The city's decision to drop a lawsuit alleging predatory ending by Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup highlights the challenges municipalities face in taking on deep-pocketed financial institutions.

JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s Mike Weinbach, chief executive officer of the home-lending business, is departing the firm after 16 years.