NEW YORK — Chase recently reported that auto loan originations for the second quarter were up 9 percent from the prior year; however, they were down 8 percent from the previous quarter.

More specifically, the company indicated that average auto loans came in at $47.5 billion, up 10 percent.

Originations for the quarter were $5.8 billion, compared to $6.3 billion in the first quarter and $5.3 billion in the second quarter of 2009.

According to Chase management, "The increase year-over-year (in originations) was driven by market share gains in prime segments and new manufacturing relationships."

Discussing the mortgage banking and other consumer lending business segment, which includes auto finance, officials reported net income came in at $364 million, up $129 million, or 55 percent from the previous year. According to officials, the increase was driven by higher non-interest revenue and a lower provision for credit losses, which was partially offset by higher non-interest expense.

Net revenue came in at $2 billion, which was up $193 million, or 10 percent, from the prior year. This includes mortgage banking revenue of $1.2 billion, up by $62 million, and other consumer lending (which includes auto and student lending) of $850 million, up $131 million, largely due to higher auto loan and lease balances, management revealed.

Mortgage banking revenue apparently includes $212 million of net interest income, $886 million of mortgage fees and related income, as well as $100 million of other non-interest revenue.

The provision for credit losses, mostly related to student and auto loan portfolios, was $175 million, compared with $336 million in the 2009 period.

Auto loan net charge-offs were $58 million (a 0.49 percent net charge-off rate), compared to $146 million (or a 1.36 percent net charge-off rate) in the previous year.

Reporting on company trends as a whole, Chase corporate management revealed second-quarter net income of $4.8 billion, compared with $2.7 billion in the same quarter of last year. Earnings per share were $1.09, compared to $0.28 in the previous second quarter.

Jamie Dimon, chairman and chief executive officer of Chase, said, "Although we are gratified to see consumer-lending net charge-offs and delinquencies decline, they remain at extremely high levels and therefore returns in our consumer-lending business are still unacceptable. As a result, these businesses did not meet expectations nor generate satisfactory returns on capital for our shareholders. It is too early to say how much improvement we will see from here."

As for the other business units, Dimon explained, "We saw solid performance in our other businesses. In particular, our wholesale business experienced reduced net charge-offs that led to reductions in loan loss reserves, and are currently seeing credit costs which reflect the increasingly healthy condition of our wholesale clients."

The CEO said his company has been doing everything it can "reasonably and responsibly" do to contribute to the economic recovery.

"During the first half of the year, we loaned or raised capital for our clients of nearly $700 billion, and our small-business originations were up 37 percent," he highlighted.

Looking forward, Dimon indicated, "We recognize a number of positive aspects of the pending regulatory reform legislation, including systemic risk oversight and resolution authority. However, many challenges and uncertainties remain, which may result in unintended consequences for our clients, the markets and our businesses.

"With a need for global regulatory coordination and hundreds of rules to be written, increased focus is critical in order to implement these reforms in a way that protects consumers and the competitiveness of the U.S. financial system, while ensuring the flow of safe and sound credit. As always, and regardless of uncertainties about the credit environment and pending regulation, we remain committed to the long-term growth of our franchise. We continue to invest in our infrastructure to enable us to deliver the quality products and services that our customers demand, and to provide good returns for our shareholders," Dimon concluded.