JPMorgan Chase kicked off US banks’ third-quarter earnings season in disappointing fashion on Tuesday afternoon, vowing to find another half a billion dollars of cost cuts as it reported profits that missed market estimates.

Analysts had been expecting a subdued period, with interest income compressed by the continued ultra-easy monetary policy of the US Federal Reserve, and investment banking activity hit by softer markets.

In the end, the biggest US bank by assets delivered net income of $6.8bn, or $1.32 a share on an adjusted basis, on revenues about 7 per cent weaker, at $23.5bn. Analysts had expected earnings per share of $1.38, up two cents from a year earlier.

Marianne Lake, chief financial officer, said the bank would redouble its efforts to cut expenses, promising to add another $500m to a scheduled $1bn savings programme for 2015. The bulk of the extra cuts — reducing the total cost base to $56.5bn — will come in the consumer and community banking division, according to a person familiar with the situation, as the bank automates more branch processes and cuts staff chasing problem loans.

The unit’s headcount has already fallen by about 10,000 so far this year, and by 40,000 since 2012.

Other big US banks are likely to echo JPMorgan’s attention to costs, said John Toohey, head of equities at USAA Investments, which is overweight bank stocks within its $6bn portfolio of equities managed in-house. Now that the huge penalties for mis-selling and misconduct are “largely in the rear-view mirror,” he said, banks need to focus on the humdrum task of “shrinking businesses and shutting down branches.”